{"id":979,"date":"2025-09-24T20:22:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T14:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=640848"},"modified":"2025-09-24T20:28:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T14:58:26","slug":"who-is-sister-jean-everything-to-know-about-loyolas-beloved-basketball-nun-who-retired-at-106","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/other-sports\/who-is-sister-jean-everything-to-know-about-loyolas-beloved-basketball-nun-who-retired-at-106\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Sister Jean? Everything to know about Loyola\u2019s beloved \u201cBasketball Nun\u201d who retired at 106"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, BVM<\/strong>, better known as simply Sister Jean<\/em>, is one of the most cherished figures in American college basketball. Famous as the chaplain of Loyola University Chicago\u2019s men\u2019s basketball team, she captured the nation\u2019s heart during the school\u2019s Cinderella run to the Final Four in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. After decades of service, Sister Jean officially retired in September 2025\u2014at the remarkable age of 106.<\/p>\n

Early Life and Calling<\/h2>\n

Sister Jean was born on August 21, 1919<\/strong>, in San Francisco. Drawn to religious life from a young age, she joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM)<\/strong> in Iowa. Alongside her vocation, she pursued academics\u2014earning a bachelor\u2019s degree from Mount St. Mary\u2019s College in Los Angeles in 1949, and later a master\u2019s degree from Loyola University of Los Angeles in 1961.<\/p>\n

Her career began as a teacher at Catholic schools in California before she moved to Chicago in 1961 to teach at Mundelein College. When Mundelein merged with Loyola in 1991, she became part of the Loyola faculty and quickly became a cornerstone of campus life.<\/p>\n

Becoming the \u201cBasketball Nun\u201d<\/h2>\n

While Sister Jean served Loyola in many roles over the years\u2014academic dean, administrator, and mentor\u2014her most famous role came in the 1990s when she became the team chaplain for Loyola\u2019s men\u2019s basketball program<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

She was more than a spiritual guide: Sister Jean prepared pregame prayers, shared motivational scouting reports, and offered one-on-one support to players. Her deep love for the game and for her \u201cboys\u201d made her a familiar sight at games, often spotted courtside in her maroon and gold Loyola gear.<\/p>\n

Her national breakthrough came in 2018<\/strong>, when Loyola Chicago stunned the basketball world by advancing to the Final Four as an 11-seed. Throughout the run, cameras frequently showed Sister Jean\u2019s animated prayers, smiles, and encouragement. She became a media sensation, affectionately dubbed the \u201cBasketball Nun,\u201d and a living symbol of the underdog spirit.<\/p>\n

Retirement at 106<\/h2>\n

On her 106th birthday in August 2025<\/strong>, Sister Jean announced she would no longer be able to attend games and campus events due to declining health. Loyola University confirmed the news in late September, citing her \u201cbad summer cold\u201d and her difficulty in making public appearances as reasons for her retirement.<\/p>\n

Though she won\u2019t be courtside anymore, Loyola made clear that Sister Jean remains a \u201cloyal Rambler\u201d and continues to inspire the community from afar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, BVM, better known as simply Sister Jean, is one of the most cherished figures in American\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":24112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-sports"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}