Sister Jean was Jean Dolores Schmidt, a beloved American Catholic nun, educator, and the longtime chaplain for Loyola University Chicago’s men’s basketball team, famous nationally during their 2018 March Madness run and beyond.

Who Sister Jean Was

Sister Jean was born Dolores Bertha Schmidt on August 21, 1919, in San Francisco and later entered the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1937, taking the religious name Jean Dolores. She died at age 106 on October 9, 2025, after a long life devoted to education, campus ministry, and college basketball chaplaincy.

Her Work at Loyola Chicago

She began teaching at Catholic schools in California and later moved to Chicago in 1961 to teach at Mundelein College, which later affiliated with Loyola University Chicago. In the mid‑1960s she was active in the civil rights movement, and by the 1990s she was serving Loyola students as an advisor and then as chaplain to the men’s basketball team.

March Madness Fame

Sister Jean became a national figure as the elderly chaplain on the bench during Loyola Chicago’s Cinderella run to the NCAA Final Four in 2018, when she was 98 years old. She was known for leading pregame prayers, offering scouting-report style emails to players and coaches, and greeting fans and media with humor and warmth.

Legacy and Honors

Over the years she received many honors, including induction into the Loyola Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017 and the university’s prestigious Sword of Loyola award in 2018. For her 100th and later birthdays, she was publicly celebrated by church leaders, public officials, and fans, and a Chicago transit plaza near Loyola’s campus was renamed in her honor.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.