After 106 wonderful years, this absolute legend is no longer with us 😞
Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt was the team chaplain for Loyola-Chicago basketball, and made her fame during Loyola's 2018 Final Four run which ended with a loss to Michigan in the semifinal game.
At a press conference during the run, Sister Jean is said to have attracted more journalists than Tom Brady at the Super Bowl.
Here's some inspiration from that amazing run the Ramblers made back in 2018:
Sister Jean grew up in San Francisco in a devoutly Catholic family. In the third grade, Dolores met a teacher who belonged to the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She recalls in her 2023 memoir praying for a future as a nun. Her prayers would be answered.
From the AP:
She followed her calling to the order's motherhouse in Dubuque, Iowa, where she made her vows. She went on to teach at Catholic schools in Chicago and Southern California, where she also coached girls' basketball, before she ended at Mundelein College — on the Chicago lakefront — in the 1960s. The school became affiliated with Loyola in 1991, and Sister Jean was hired to help students with the transition.
In 1994, she was asked to help student basketball players boost their grades — 'the booster shooter' she called herself, and later that year she was named chaplain of the men's basketball team. The role, she wrote in her memoir, became 'the most transformational and transcendent position' of her life.
When she was 100 years old she received an Apostolic Blessing from Pope Francis.
My favorite moments were Sister Jean's pregame prayers which inspired both the Ramblers and their opponents before each home game.
Rest in peace, Sister Jean!
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