Lowe was born on May 23, 1894, in Loudon County, Tennessee, to Jesse Grant Lowe and Margaret Anna Alexander.[1][a] His father was a teacher.[3]
Lowe was a prominent guard for the Tennessee Volunteers football team of the University of Tennessee. He and his three brothers (Andy Lowe, J. G. Lowe, and Ted Lowe) all played for Tennessee.[4] Lowe was a substitute for the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) champion 1914 team. Two years later, he was an All-Southern selection for the SIAA co-champion 1916 team.[5] He was elected captain of the next year's team;[6] however, the university suspended varsity football during 1917 and 1918 due to players being called into military service. Lowe was one of a number of American athletes in the early 20th century with the nickname "Chink"; he was referred to by that nickname in newspapers as early as November 1911.[7] In the 1980s, Lowe was selected for an 1891–1919 All Tennessee team.[8]
Lowe served in the First World War as an observer and gunner in the Army's fledgling aviation corps. attached to the Army as a Marine.[4] He enrolled as a provisional second lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve the day after his 23rd birthday, later serving with the 90th Aero Squadron. For extraordinary heroism in France in October 1918, Lowe was awarded the Navy Cross:[2][b] he shot down one German plane and disabled another, and later, on the same mission, he was attacked by five planes and still managed to complete his mission.[9]
^The decoration was the Distinguished Service Cross at the time it was awarded to Lowe, which was later retroactively changed to Navy Cross for Navy and Marine personnel.