21st Tide player enters Hall of Fame

Update: Added AP story on the Hall of Fame class with information on some of the other persons elected to the Hall of Fame. (embedded below)

Add another Alabama Crimson Tide football player to the National College Football Hall of Fame. Here are the details via UA’s official release:

Woodrow Lowe Selected to National College Football Hall of Fame
TUSCALOOSA – Former Alabama linebacker Woodrow Lowe has been named to the 2009 class of the College Football Hall of Fame it was announced on Thursday by the College Football Hall of Fame Foundation, Inc. Lowe was one of the Crimson Tide’s all-time great linebackers, playing for legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant from 1972-75. He is one of just two Alabama players to be named a three-time All-American, earning the honor from 1973-75.

“I am extremely proud for Woodrow and the Alabama football program to see that he is being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame,” said Alabama Director of Athletics Mal Moore, a former Crimson Tide assistant coach during Lowe’s playing days. “He was consistently excellent throughout his playing career and his induction into the Hall of Fame is very appropriate. He put together a career that set a standard that carries on to this day.”

Lowe becomes the 21st Alabama player to be selected into the College Football Hall of Fame, joining UA greats such as Bryant, Cornelius Bennett, John Hannah, Frank Howard, Lee Roy Jordan, Johnny Musso and Ozzie Newsome. Lowe, the 1973 Churchman’s National Defensive Sophomore of the Year, set the Alabama single-season record with 134 tackles during that season, a mark that still stands today. That season the Crimson Tide played in the Sugar Bowl and was named the UPI National Champions.

“I am very thankful for having the opportunity to attend the University of Alabama,” Lowe said on Thursday. “I am so humbled and grateful to be in the system that Coach Bryant produced. I am just kind of speechless because it has never been about me at the University; it has always been about the team. There are a lot of other people that I owe credit to and give credit to. It is truly an honor to be inducted, but there are a lot of people that had a lot to do with me being successful.”

As a junior in 1974, Lowe earned consensus All-America honors and led the Crimson Tide to a third straight SEC title and a berth in the Orange Bowl. As a senior in 1975, Lowe again earned first-team All-America honors and served as team captain for the Crimson Tide as Alabama captured its fourth straight SEC title and a trip to the Sugar Bowl where they beat Penn State, 13-6.

Lowe was Alabama’s all-time leading tackler with 315 when he finished his career in 1975 and still ranks third in career stops at the Capstone. Following his senior season, Lowe played in the 1976 Senior Bowl and entered the NFL Draft where he was selected in the fifth round by the San Diego Chargers. He missed only one game in 11 seasons with the Chargers and tallied 21 interceptions while returning four for touchdowns.

Named to Alabama’s first-team All-Decade Team and a second-team All-Century selection, Lowe was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.

Following his career with the Chargers, Lowe served as an assistant coach with the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders and in the college ranks at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

The 2009 College Football Hall of Fame Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Class will be inducted at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner on December 8, 2009, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. They will be officially enshrined at the Hall in South Bend, Ind., during ceremonies in the summer of 2010 at the Hall of Fame located in South Bend, Ind.

Woodrow Lowe’s Alabama Stats
Year Tackles TFL-Yards Int.-Yards
1972 46 2-7 1-13
1973 134 6-13 3-20
1974 86 5-22 1-0
1975 67 4-6 1-3
Totals 315 17-48 6-36

2009 COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME CLASS
PLAYERS
PERVIS ATKINS – HB, New Mexico State (1958-60)
TIM BROWN – WR, Notre Dame (1984-87)
CHUCK CECIL – DB, Arizona (1984-87)
ED DYAS – FB, Auburn (1958-60)
MAJOR HARRIS – QB, West Virginia (1987-89)
GORDON HUDSON – TE, Brigham Young (1980- 83)
WILLIAM LEWIS* – C, Harvard (1892-93)
WOODROW LOWE – LB, Alabama (1972-75)
KEN MARGERUM – WR, Stanford (1977-80)
STEVE McMICHAEL – DT, Texas (1976-79)
CHRIS SPIELMAN – LB, Ohio State (1984-87)
LARRY STATION – LB, Iowa (1982-85)
PAT SWILLING – DE, Georgia Tech (1982-85)
GINO TORRETTA – QB, Miami (Fla.) (1989-92)
CURT WARNER – RB, Penn State (1979-82)
GRANT WISTROM – DE, Nebraska (1994-97)
*Selection from the FBS Veterans Committee, deceased

COACHES
DICK MacPHERSON – 111-73-5 (.601) – Massachusetts (1971-77), Syracuse (1981-90)
JOHN ROBINSON – 132-77-4 (.629) – Southern California (1976-82, 1993-97), Nevada-Las Vegas (1999-2004)

Photos courtesy of UA Media Relations: