It was the late 1980s, and Tom Lowe was 39 years old. He was a family man working in the business world, and he was an enthusiastic sports fan.
But something was missing. He wanted to get closer to the action, as he puts it today, to athletic competition. He couldn’t play on, or coach a team. What to do?
He saw an ad in a local newspaper about classes for training high school football officials. He signed up, and began a second career officiating on high school football fields for the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). On weekdays, he pursued career number one in industrial and real estate sales. On Friday nights and Saturday afternoons, he thoroughly enjoyed himself keeping up with teenage boys in the physically challenging game of football.
For 31 years, Tom Lowe officiated for the IHSA. (Photo by Tony Pratt/Sun Day)
He also figured it would be a great way to exercise regularly (and aggressively) and stay in top physical condition.
His sports career was remarkably symmetrical, he said in a recent chat with the Sun Day.
“I worked my first game, back in the 1987, as an official at Notre Dame High School in Niles, he said. “I was privileged to work my last game on October 10 this fall on that same field, 31 years later. It was a quarterfinal game in the IHSA’s Class 7A football playoffs between Notre Dame and Antioch. I enjoyed going out in that way.”
Ed Schmitt is Tom’s neighbor in Sun City. It was Schmitt who alerted the Sun Day to Lowe’s interesting background.
“Tom is very dedicated to officiating and happy to talk about it,” Schmitt said. “His favorite months of the year are August, September, October, and November, that’s the high school football season. If the season could be longer, he would still be out there with the kids. He is my good friend and I am proud of what he has done.”
A native of Rock Island, Illinois, Lowe ran track and wrestled in high school, and quickly got hooked on sports in general. He attended Blackhawk Junior College for a year and a few years later he graduated at the former Midwestern College in Denison, Iowa.
But it took him more than a decade to figure out how he could stay active in sports. The ad for officials did the job.
“The IHSA is part of the National Federation of High Schools, and I had to pass a federation test to become an official, I was very happy the day I accomplished that, he recalled. “At first, I officiated at underclass games involving freshman and sophomore players. I became a member of a five-man crew of officials that covered games in the areas of the state closest to where most of us lived. I worked as a linesman, side judge, and umpire on the field, but I eventually settled on working regularly as an umpire.”
In high school football, the umpire is the official who positions himself a few yards from the line of scrimmage, in the defensive secondary.
“My job was to watch first for center snap violations, such as false starts by the linemen,” Lowe explained. “Then I watched for blocking and tackling violations after the play started.”
Asked if he any anecdotes from the gridiron, Lowe laughed and said, “Yeah, it was the time I got injured. It happened in 2016, in a game between Crystal Lake South and Dundee-Crown in Carpentersville. I was near the linebackers, and I saw the ball carrier head right toward me. I started to run away, and the runner and I ran parallel. The defender caught up to the runner and I at the same time, and I was hit from behind. My knees buckled, and I wound up with a broken leg.”
He also remembers being nervous in his first high school varsity game.
“I was a bit worried about the reaction of coaches to calls. On the opening kickoff, I was in the return team’s end zone near the kick returner when he caught the ball. When he did, his knee hit the ground and I blew the play dead with a whistle. The return team got the ball on the 20-yard line. After the play, the return team’s coach came up to me and said, quietly, ‘So that’s how it’s going to be.’ We both laughed.”
“I knew the risks of officiating, but I always loved it, it kept me close to the kids and the game.” he said.
He has officiated in many state tournament games, and has been privileged to work two state championship games.
“I worked a class 4A state title game won by Bishop McNamara in 1998, and also the Class 2A championship game in 2015. There have been so many games I’ve forgotten who played in that 2014 game.”
In spite of his very active lifestyle, he has endured so many injuries and health issues that would have put many men home on crutches or in bed. He has had four kidney surgeries, five knee operations (one replacement), a quadruple heart bypass, and broke his arm playing touch football with friends. He recently endured a months-long bout with shingles, which still mildly affects his ability to walk and move his feet.
“Today, I have two regrets,” he concluded. “One is that I didn’t start officiating sooner, and the other is, I now have to quit.”
He is wasting no time going to the Sun Belt. He and his wife have sold their Sun City home and will head to the Villages in Florida to pursue his new “career” of watching sports on television.
