lit a candle 8 Sept 2026Our families knew him through Louisville football in the 90s. He was always steady, always kind. Gone far too soon. Thoughts with Michelle and the children.
Their story
Marty Lowe was the Louisville quarterback who helped the Cardinals prove they belonged in the Governor's Cup, then spent the rest of his life proving that coaching did not require a stadium. He died on Sunday 6 September 2026 at age 54, two weeks short of his 55th birthday, after…
Marty Lowe was the Louisville quarterback who helped the Cardinals prove they belonged in the Governor's Cup, then spent the rest of his life proving that coaching did not require a stadium. He died on Sunday 6 September 2026 at age 54, two weeks short of his 55th birthday, after kidney cancer that media and Wikipedia report as Stage 4 kidney cancer. Local television (WDRB+WAVE) dated the death to that Sunday. Wikipedia's article text, citing the Courier-Journal, says 7 September 2026. This profile stores 6 September 2026, the WDRB Sunday date, and keeps the Courier-Journal date beside it so neither account is erased. Either way, Louisville lost a teammate, a teacher, and a park-side mentor in the same week the Cardinals opened another season.
Born 21 September 1971 and raised around Chattanooga, Tennessee, Lowe starred at Red Bank High School. As a senior in 1990 he was named Tennessee Class 2A Mr. Football. He arrived at the University of Louisville in 1991 just after Browning Nagle's celebrated run and shared a quarterback room with Jeff Brohm before earning the starting job. From 1991 to 1995 he threw for 4,861 yards and 27 touchdowns for the Cardinals (Louisville athletics and WHAS Radio bio). Sports-Reference and Wikipedia break out the seasons: limited work in 1991 and 1993, no play in 1992, then full starter stretches in 1994 (186 of 319, 2,091 yards, 9 touchdowns, 17 interceptions) and 1995 (195 of 350, 2,268 yards, 16 touchdowns, 5 interceptions). He started 22 consecutive games and became one of the few Louisville passers to clear 2,000 yards in back-to-back seasons.
The games that sealed his place in commonwealth football lore were the first two modern Governor's Cups. In 1994, Louisville and Kentucky resumed their rivalry after seventy years. Lowe started and Kentucky won 20-14. In Lexington on 2 September 1995, with 4:58 left and Kentucky ahead 10-6, Lowe drove the Cardinals 72 yards in nine plays, completing four passes of at least 10 yards. Calvin Arrington scored from the 1. Sam Madison's interception sealed a 13-10 Louisville win, the program's first over Kentucky in the renewed series. The Cardinals wore "State Champs" hats. WDRB later called Lowe the quarterback who helped Louisville prove something about itself.
Undrafted in 1996, he played Arena Football League ball for the St. Louis Stampede (1996) and the Texas Terror (1997). A knee injury in Texas ended his playing career after he had completed 13 of 19 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns that season (ArenaFan). He returned to Louisville as an assistant (1997-1999), earned a bachelor's in Sport Administration (1996) and a master's in Education (1999), then coached with the Nashville Kats (offensive assistant, later offensive coordinator), at UTEP (running backs, 2001), and, from May 2002, as head coach of the Georgia Force. At the time he was among the youngest head coaches in the AFL. He compiled a 17-19 regular-season record (5-4 in 2002, 8-8 and a first Force playoff berth in 2003, 4-7 before being fired in April 2004). The 2003 team lost to the San Jose SaberCats in the quarterfinals.
He worked Louisville radio sidelines for WHAS in 2004, then joined Western Carolina (2005-2006) as running backs coach, later passing-game coordinator, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. In June 2007 the Louisville Fire (af2) named him director of football operations. Eventually the coaching carousel stopped. Lowe came home to Louisville for good. He raised his family with wife Michelle (the former Michelle Washle), taught special education in Jefferson County Public Schools, and rebuilt his coaching life without a paycheck from a franchise. At Seneca Park, on a field inside a running track, he worked year-round with dozens of young athletes. By 2022 he estimated 80 to 100 clients. Quarterbacks were his specialty, from kindergarten throwers to college players still chasing improvement.
He told the Ball Down South podcast in 2022 that "head coach Marty Lowe" was not coming back. He was teaching. His kids were grown or getting there. He was enjoying what he was doing. "You're a teacher at heart," he said, "so coaching just kind of comes with it, or vice versa." After his death, former pupil Brock Shoemaker wrote that so much of the quarterback he became was because of Lowe, and even more of the man he became. Teammates Erik Watts and Graig Hoffman remembered the smile and the habit of lifting others. Brohm, who visited him in the hospital about three weeks before the end, called him a great person and teammate. George Billy Standifer, a Red Bank classmate, remembered Lowe calming him in a baseball slump before a tournament home run.
The measure of the life, WDRB argued, was not only the 4,861 yards or the Force playoff berth, but the Facebook wall of thank-yous from kids and parents and the quiet evenings picking up footballs at Seneca Park. Coaching, Lowe said, had given him a lot. He had given back a lot.
He is not Charles Martin "Marty" Lowe of Jackson and Paris, Tennessee, who died on 22 September 2025. He is not Martin Lowe, the British musical director. Public records used here do not confirm a legal name "Martin Joseph Lowe," and that form is not used on this profile.
Biography adapted from WDRB+WAVE 8 Sep 2026; Courier-Journal; Wikipedia; ArenaFan; Louisville athletics; Western Carolina; OurSports Central; Ball Down South..
In their own words
“I'm enjoying what I'm doing right now.”
2022 Ball Down South podcast, declining a return to head coaching. Quoted by WDRB.
“You're a teacher at heart, so coaching just kind of comes with it, or vice versa.”
Lowe on why coaching fit his later life. Source: WDRB, quoting the Ball Down South interview.
“I've given back a lot.”
Lowe on what coaching had given him and what he returned. Source: WDRB, paired with his remark that coaching had given him a lot.
“He was a great person, great teammate. Fun to be around. Great smile. Nice to everybody.”
Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm, after visiting Lowe in hospital and after the death. Source: WDRB, Monday comments.
“Everyone loved Marty. I never saw him without a smile on his face. He was so selfless. He was always supporting a teammate or lifting others up.”
Former Louisville quarterback teammate Erik Watts. Source: WDRB.
“the most genuine and humble guy on our Louisville Football team.”
Former teammate Graig Hoffman. Source: WDRB.
“So much of the quarterback I became was because of him, but even more than that, so much of the man I became was too.”
Pupil Brock Shoemaker, Monday Facebook tribute. Source: WDRB.
“Today I'd give anything to have stayed even longer.”
Brock Shoemaker on lingering after Seneca Park workouts to talk with Lowe. Source: WDRB.
Photos
2Louisville quarterback Marty Lowe hugs teammate Shawn Kries after a score against Tulane in a 34-14 victory on 4 November 1995 at Cardinal Stadium. Cards helmet; Kries jersey 68.
Nov 1995 · by People Forever
Western Carolina University athletics coaching headshot of Marty Lowe, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Confirmed against the CatamountSports staff page for this coach, not the Tennessee or UK namesakes.
by People Forever
That's what he did for all of us. Patient. Real.