Paul Lowe

Paul Edward Lowe (born September 27, 1936) is an American former professional football player who was a halfback in the American Football League (AFL), primarily with the Los Angeles / San Diego Chargers. A four-time All-AFL selection and two-time AFL All-Star, he was named to the AFL All-Time Team.

Lowe played college football for the Oregon State Beavers. He won an AFL championship with the Chargers in 1963. He led the league in rushing yards in 1965, when he was named the AFL Player of the Year. Lowe finished his career with the Kansas City Chiefs, receiving a championship ring after they won Super Bowl IV. He was inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame and named to their 40th and 50th anniversary teams.

Early life

Lowe was born in Homer, Louisiana, and grew up in the Los Angeles area.<ref name=wolf_08011990/> A native of Compton, California, he jumped the fence of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as a child to watch Los Angeles Rams games.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He attended Centennial High School, where he was a standout in football, track, and basketball.<ref name=wolf_08011990/>

College career

Lowe attended Oregon State University and played under Beavers coach Tommy Prothro.<ref name=ortman_10021979>Template:Cite news</ref> In his sophomore year in 1956, he played as the No. 2 tailback behind starter Joe Francis in the Beavers' single-wing offense.<ref name=ortman_10021979/><ref name=gazette_01051957>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lowe rushed 113 times for 407 yards and six touchdowns, and completed 13 of 26 passes or 293 yards.<ref name=sr>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He received honorable mention for the All-America team from the United Press,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> who also named him to the second team of the All-Coast team.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Oregon State won the Pacific Coast Conference and was ranked 10th nationally. They played in the 1957 Rose Bowl, losing to No. 3 Iowa for the second time in the season.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Shortly after the Rose Bowl, Oregon State suspended Lowe due to low grades.<ref name=gazette_01051957/><ref name=gazette_12271958>Template:Cite news</ref> After raising his grades in junior college, he returned to Oregon State the following year in 1958.<ref name=gazette_12271958/> He failed to meet expectations and was primarily a backup to Grimm Mason and Dainard Paulson,<ref name=gazette_12271958/> finishing with 62 rushes for 162 yards and two touchdowns along with 100 yards on 6 of 17 passing.<ref name=sr/> After the season, Lowe withdrew from school due to financial and academic difficulties.<ref name=gazette_12271958/>

Professional career

After leaving Oregon State University, Lowe was undrafted in the 1959 NFL draft. He played for the San Francisco 49ers during the 1959 pre-season before being released in the final cut after hurting his ankle before the regular season began.<ref name=wolf_08011990/> He returned to Los Angeles, and looked for a job to support his wife and four children. He took a job in the mailroom for the Carte Blanche Corporation, owned by the Hilton family.<ref name=chargers.com>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1960, Barron Hilton, son of famed hotel magnate Conrad Hilton, was the original owner of the Los Angeles Chargers, a start-up team in the newly formed American Football League. Chargers general manager Frank Leahy asked Lowe to come out to training camp based on his performance at Oregon State a few years back.<ref name=chargers.com/> Lowe joined the Chargers as a free agent.<ref name=piascik_2009>Template:Cite magazine</ref> He returned his first touch of the football in the AFL for a 105-yard touchdown in the Chargers' first-ever exhibition game. That season, he led the team to a 10–4 record and a Western Division championship.<ref name=pfhof_01292018/> He had a team-high 855 yards rushing on 136 carries for a career-high 6.3 yards per carry average, and also had 23 receptions for 377 yards.<ref name=wolf_08011990/><ref name=pfhof_01292018>Template:Cite news</ref> Lowe finished No. 2 in the league in rushing, 20 yards behind Abner Haynes of the Dallas Texans,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and earned first-team All-AFL honors as a halfback.<ref name=pfhof_01292018/> In the 1960 AFL championship game, Lowe ran for 165 yards.<ref name=wolf_08011990/>

In the season opener of 1961 against the Texans, with the team now based in San Diego, Lowe had the Chargers' longest run from scrimmage with an 87-yard run, a record that still stands.<ref name=wolf_08011990/><ref name=chargers.com/> He missed the 1962 season after breaking his arm.<ref name=wolf_08011990/> He returned and ran for 1,010 yards in 1963, when the Associated Press named him the AFL Comeback Player of the Year.<ref name=ap_12181965>Template:Cite news</ref> In the AFL championship game, Lowe rushed for 94 yards on 12 carries, including a 58-yard touchdown, in a 51–10 win over Boston.<ref name=ortman_10021979/> Limited by a muscle injury in 1964,<ref name=ap_12181965/> his production fell to 496 yards.<ref name=pfhof_01292018/>

In 1965, Lowe was named the AFL Player of the Year by The Sporting News after a then-league-record 1,121 yards rushing and six touchdowns (14-game schedule).<ref name=wolf_08011990>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He became the first AFL player to rush for 1,000 yards twice after gaining 99 yards in a 37–26 win over the Houston Oilers, clinching the Chargers' fifth Western Division title in six years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the regular season finale against the Oakland Raiders, he broke Clem Daniels' AFL single-season record of 1,099 rushing yards, set by the Raider in 1963.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Again named the AFL's comeback player of the year,<ref name=ap_12181965/> Lowe was also tied for second with teammate Lance Alworth in voting by United Press International for their AFL player of the year award, won by Jack Kemp.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lowe rushed for 643 yards the following season in 1966, and his output fell to 71 yards on 2.5 yards per carry in 1967. After running for nine yards on his only carry in the 1968 season-opener win over Cincinnati, he was waived by San Diego. He was 28 yards shy of the 5,000-yard career milestone.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lowe joined the Kansas City Chiefs as a free agent after all six of their running backs were injured.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On his first running play with the Chiefs, he separated his shoulder,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and missed the rest of the season. In his final season in 1969, he passed 5,000 yards against Boston on September 21 after rushing eight times for 40 yards, surpassing the mark on the final play after a sweep for eight yards.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He joined Daniels as the only AFL players to reach the milestone.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, Lowe fell below the mark after losing yards against the Chargers on the final carry of his career.<ref name=wolf_08011990/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Shortly after, he was hospitalized to treat a bleeding ulcer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lowe retired and left the team with one game remaining in the regular season.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Kansas City defeated Minnesota 23–7 in Super Bowl IV that season, and he received a Super Bowl ring.<ref name=ortman_10021979/>

Legacy

Lowe was a four-time All-AFL selection, including twice on the first team, as well as a two-time AFL All-Star.<ref name=pfhof_01012005>Template:Cite news</ref> He averaged 4.9 yards per carry during his career, which is the highest in Chargers franchise history and tops in the AFL.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He set a pro football record with six games gaining 100+ yards on 14 carries or less. Lowe's career rushing total of 4,995 yards are the second-most in AFL history.<ref name=piascik_2009/> He led the Chargers in rushing five times, including two 1,000 yard seasons.<ref name=wolf_08011990/> His 4,972 yards with the Chargers remained a team career record until 2004, when he was surpassed by LaDainian Tomlinson.<ref name=sullivan_10092004>Template:Cite news</ref> Lowe was the AFL leader or runner-up in rushing touchdowns four times.<ref name=sullivan_10092004/> He is also one of only twenty players who were in the AFL for its entire ten-year existence.<ref name=piascik_2009/>

In 1970, the Pro Football Hall of Fame named Lowe as a running back on the All-Time All-AFL Team. In 1979, the Chargers inducted him into the Chargers Hall of Fame.<ref name=pfhof_01012005/> As of 2006, Lowe was living in San Diego and supports his team as a season ticket holder.<ref name=chargers.com/>

NFL career statistics

Legend
	AFL MVP
	Won the AFL Championship
	Super Bowl champion
	Led the league
Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	Games		Rushing						Receiving					Fumbles
		GP	GS	Att	Yds	Avg	Y/G	Lng	TD	Rec	Yds	Avg	Lng	TD	Fum
1960	LAC	14	12	136	855	6.3	61.1	76	8	23	377	16.4	63	2	2
1961	SD	14	14	175	767	4.4	54.8	87	9	17	103	6.1	17	0	6
1962	SD	Missed season due to injury
1963	SD	14	12	177	1,010	5.7	72.1	66	8	26	191	7.3	31	2	7
1964	SD	12	9	130	496	3.8	41.3	50	3	14	182	13.0	41	2	2
1965	SD	14	14	222	1,121	5.0	80.1	59	6	17	126	7.4	45	1	2
1966	SD	14	11	146	643	4.4	45.9	57	3	12	41	3.4	11	0	3
1967	SD	7	2	28	71	2.5	10.1	21	1	2	25	12.5	13	0	0
1968	SD	1	0	1	9	9.0	9.0	9	0	–	–	–	–	–	0
	KC	1	0	1	-10	-10.0	-10.0	-10	0	–	–	–	–	–	0
1969	KC	7	0	10	33	3.3	4.7	18	0	–	–	–	–	–	0
Career		98	74	1,026	4,995	4.9	51.0	87	38	111	1,045	9.4	63	7	23

Health

Lowe has experienced ringing in his ears since 1965. In 2017, a neurologist diagnosed that a CT scan "showed atrophy of frontal lobes, and his testing showed...moderate dementia". In 2018, Lowe signed papers that awarded him $25,000 (before lawyer fees) from the NFL concussion settlement.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>