DALLAS — A religious sister who is the longtime chaplain of the Loyola University Chicago men's basketball team credited the pregame prayer and the players' solid teamwork for the Ramblers' thrilling, last-second 64-62 win over the University of Miami in the NCAA Tournament on March 15. "Our team is so great and they don't care who makes the points as long as we win the game," Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, 98, told a reporter with truTV. Donte Ingram scored the winning 3-point basket at the buzzer during the first-round game in Dallas. It was Loyola's first NCAA Tournament win since 1985.The Ramblers' next game was a March 17 63-62 win over the University of Tennessee; they play Nevada in the Sweet SIxteen round on March 22. In the locker room before the March 15 game, Sister Jean said, she told the team: "We want to win, we want to get the big 'W' up there and we did." The Sister of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary made the comments in an interview courtside after the win over the Hurricanes. The TV reporter noted that as chaplain, she always gives detailed feedback after games in emails to Loyola's coaches and players. "What's is your feedback to the team" on the win, the reporter asked. "Oh, thank God, thank God we did it, because we knew we would do it," replied Sister Jean. "And when we were in the locker room ahead of the game, we just knew we would do this." Also of interest... Read Chicago Catholic's 2017 story about Sister Jean ***This article was originally published in the Feb. 26, 2017, edition of Chicago Catholic.*** Rock star. Icon. Living legend. Those are just some of the words used to describe Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the 97-year-old chaplain of Loyola University’s men’s basketball team and the newest member of the university’s sports hall of fame. During halftime on Jan. 21 when the Loyola men’s team played Evansville in Gentile Arena, Sister Jean became the 173rd person inducted into the hall of fame since its creation in 1914. She was this year’s only inductee. The 5-foot nun can be seen at every home game of the men’s team. She’s most often decked out in Loyola gear and wearing her trademark maroon Nike tennis shoes with gold laces that have “Sister” stitched onto the heel of her left shoe and “Jean” stitched on the heel of her right shoe. Everyone on campus knows Sister Jean, who keeps an office in the Student Center where her door is always open; who has her own bobble head; and who lives in a dorm with 400 undergraduate students, where she also serves as their chaplain. Sister Jean said she was honored and humbled to be inducted into the hall of fame. “It’s a very special day for me and for Loyola and for all of us who work here,” she said. As she was led out to center court on Jan. 21 by university President JoAnn Rooney and Athletic Director Steve Watson, fans chanted “Sister Jean! Sister Jean!” Born in San Francisco in 1919, Sister Jean played basketball growing up and, in 1937, joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Iowa. She was 18. She taught in elementary schools and also volunteered as a coach in Los Angeles public schools when she was teaching in that city. In 1961, Sister Jean took a teaching job at Mundelein College, the women’s college located next to Loyola in Rogers Park. Mundelein merged with Loyola in 1991 and just a few years later, in 1994, Sister Jean became chaplain of the men’s basketball team. She takes her job seriously. After games she emails each player pointing out what they did well and what they can work on. When Loyola Coach Porter Moser took the job in 2011, one of the first people he heard from was Sister Jean, who gave him a scouting report of all the players. Before home games, Sister Jean waits for the team and sits on a bench near the entrance to the court where the players come in. Students stop by to say hello. Referees come over to hug her. During games she sits up behind the home bench intently watching the action. Before their final warmup, Sister Jean gathers the young men in a circle, all of their arms linked together, and prays with them. “I love every one of them,” she said. “I talk about the game to them and then they go out and play.” In addition to the team, Sister Jean also leads the entire crowd in a prayer before tipoff. Her prayers always include petitions that each team will play well and be free of injuries. But she also shows her bias. When praying before the Jan. 21 game against Evansville, she said, “Bless our fans. In addition, O Lord, we pray that the Ramblers fail to overturn the ball today.” She finishes her prayers the same way every time. “Amen. Go Ramblers.” Prayer is important, she says. “I always pray that we don’t get injured and that we play with great sportsmanship and that we be respectful toward each other. I think that’s very important.” Should we pray to win? “Sure. We pray to win because we’re in competition. When you’re in competition you want to win,” she said. “If that’s the way God wants it, it’s fine.” Sister Jean has influenced many students over the years, and some of them turned out for her induction ceremony. “She was my confirmation sponsor here at Loyola in ’92. She was phenomenal and has just about the same amount of energy that she did back then and was always such a positive influence. I love her,” said Michon Mohan. Beata Peters agreed. Peters knew Sister Jean when she was a dean at Mundelein College. “We called her ‘Jean the dean.’ She was our dean of students. She was just as warm and wonderful as she is now,” Peters said. “She was always present, always there to help you if needed help with anything. I adore her.” Peters attended the hall of fame induction just to see Sister Jean. “I haven’t seen her in 30 years and she remembered me right away,” Peters said. “She’s amazing.” In the pregame prayer, "we asked God to help us and I told God that we would do our part if he would do his part," she said. "And I (prayed) the referees would call the right kind of game, that nobody would get injured, that we'd play with confidence and ... we'd win the game, and then at the end when the buzzer rang, we'd want to be sure the score said we had the big 'W.'" The 1963 Loyola team won the national championship. When asked what made the 1963 Loyola team special and what this team has in common with them, Sister Jean said: "They share the ball, they don't care. They just share the ball," she said of the current players. "They have great team work and they're really good guys. And so was the team of '63." Sister Jean has been the team's chaplain since 1994. In January 2017, she was inducted into Loyola's sports hall of fame. Over the years, she has become has become a fixture on campus, even getting her own bobblehead day before a game in appreciation for her service. She keeps an office in the Student Center where her door is always open, and she lives in one of the dorms. She broke her hip in late 2017 and now uses a wheelchair. Her pregame prayer with the team was once characterized by an ESPN writer as a mix of prayer, scouting report and motivational speech. She begins each prayer with the phrase "Good and gracious God." "I love every one of them," she said in an interview last year with the Chicago Catholic, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago. "I talk about the game to them and then they go out and play." In addition to the team, Sister Jean usually leads the entire crowd in a prayer before tip-off. Sister Jean is most often decked out in Loyola gear and wearing her trademark maroon Nike tennis shoes with gold laces that have "Sister" stitched onto the heel of her left shoe and "Jean" stitched on the heel of her right shoe. Born in San Francisco in 1919, Sister Jean played six-on-six girls' basketball in high school. Returning to California after entering the convent in Iowa — she joined the order in 1937 when she was 18 — she taught elementary school and volunteered as a coach in public schools in Los Angeles when she was teaching in that city. She coached everything from girls' basketball, volleyball and softball to Ping-Pong and the yo-yo. She once said she had her girls' team played against the boys to "toughen" them. In 1961, Sister Jean took a teaching job at Mundelein College, the women's college that prepared its students to teach, which was located next to Loyola in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. She remembers when, two years later, Loyola beat the University of Cincinnati in the NCAA championship game. Mundelein merged with Loyola in 1991, and she moved along with it.
Sister Jean, Father Hagan show how to embrace faith and sports Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt and Father Rob Hagan have been getting a lot of attention these days in the national media. They are the chaplains for the two Catholic teams, Loyola University Chicago and Villanova University, playing in the Final Four of the NCAA men's basketball tournament this weekend.