 He began his career at local club Elgin City where he garnered the nicknames, 'Jamie' or 'Jimmy', then moved south to study agriculture at the University of Edinburgh, where he was playing for their football team when scouted by Heart of Midlothian.Low broke into the strong Hearts first team as a teenager and also represented the Scottish League twice in 1914.In November 1914 he was one of the contingent from the club who enlisted to fight in World War One in McCrae's Battalion.