Sister Jean turns 103. Get to know Loyola basketball’s famous team chaplain.
When Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt was 20, she heard someone say that age 40 is when “you’re put on the shelf.”
She thought to herself: “That’s kind of foolish to be talking about life that way. What will I do if I’m put on the shelf at 40?”
The nun passed that milestone 60 years ago. At 40, she was just getting started. At 98, she was living a dream life.
Sister Jean has enjoyed some of her most exciting years as the Loyola basketball team chaplain. She became the darling of the 2018 NCAA Tournament during the Ramblers’ unlikely run to the Final Four.
And she doesn’t plan to slow down as she turns 103 Sunday.
“The legacy I want is that I helped people and I was not afraid to give my time to people and teach them to be positive about what happens and that they can do good for other people,” Sister Jean told the Tribune in 2019.
Here’s a look back at her rise to fame.
Meet Sister Jean
Sister Jean was born in San Francisco in 1919 — the year Congress approved women’s right to vote, Prohibition was ratified and the White Sox threw the World Series.
Born into a family of sports fans, Sister Jean played high school basketball from 1933-37 on a court divided into three sections with rules that allowed only forwards to shoot. She became a nun after high school, joining the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary convent in Iowa, then returned to California in 1941 as a teacher and coach.
She accepted a teaching job at Mundelein College, an all-women’s school near Loyola, in 1961 and attended athletic events at both schools, driving some Mundelein teams to competitions. Mundelein merged with Loyola in 1991, and Sister Jean retired from the education department not long after.
A few years later, Loyola asked her to become team chaplain. She has prayed with teams, offered her scouting reports and delivered her postgame encouragement.
Final Four darling
In 2018, an unexpected NCAA Tournament run for Loyola propelled Sister Jean into the national spotlight.
Actually, let Sister Jean correct that.
“International celebrity,” she quipped to a TV news reporter. She mentioned being the subject of news segments in Mexico and Britain.
In an interview via Skype with “Access Hollywood,” she deflected praise and lauded the team: “I think the stardom rests with the coach and with the team. I’m sort of in the background doing the hard pushing. They’re the ones that do the playing and get the credit.”
“I walked by (and) thought it looked like Tom Brady at the Super Bowl,” Loyola coach Porter Moser said of her Final Four media availability.
The Ramblers lost in the Final Four to Michigan in San Antonio — but Sister Jean fever lived on.
‘I never thought I’d be 100′
When Sister Jean turned 100 in 2019, she enjoyed 10 birthday parties — one for each decade.
Longevity is in her genes. While her mother lived to 74, her father lived to 95 and she said all but one of her paternal aunts and uncles lived to their mid-90s. Her grandfather lived with her family during her childhood.
Birthdays were to be celebrated, even when money was sparse. Her mother ensured each child’s birthday was special. Sister Jean and her brothers could request a specific menu — her favorite was chicken fricassee, homemade noodles and pound cake with lots of frosting.
“Birthdays,” she told the Tribune, “are your special days.”
Her NCAA predictions
Do Loyola players mind being upstaged during the biggest moment of their college careers?
“I like that Sister Jean aspect,” guard Lucas Williamson said in 2022. “I like what it adds to Loyola. She’s such a huge part of what we do here, so the fact she gets recognition, it doesn’t take away from anything we do here.
“She’s been a part of Loyola forever. It’s been nice. I can’t wait to see what her brackets look like.”
Yes, getting Sister Jean’s bracket picks have been a part of Selection Sunday for years now.
In 2022, she had Loyola getting to the Sweet 16 — but the Ramblers lost in the opening round to Ohio State. In 2021, after watching the game film, she predicted a Loyola upset of top-seeded Illinois ... and then watched it happen in person in Indianapolis.
Sister Jean knows when people come to say hello with their phones pulled out, they really want to take a selfie with her.
“I go down Michigan Avenue with a friend and people stop me and say, Are you … are you … ?’” she said. “‘Yes, I am Sister Jean.’ They stutter first, and then they melt. I have a lot of fun.
