One of the most popular basketball fans in the country is 105 years old.
Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt, better known as Sister Jean, is the team chaplain for the Loyola University Chicago men’s basketball team. While she has been a staple at Ramblers home games for longer than the team’s players have been alive, college basketball fans nationwide first got to know her during Loyola’s improbable 2018 Final Four run.
Sister Jean was born August 21, 1919, in San Francisco, where she played on the girls’ basketball team at St. Paul’s High School before graduating in 1937. She moved to Chicago in 1961 and became active in the city’s civil rights movement. She became Loyola’s team chaplain in 1994.
Twenty-four years later, her Ramblers returned to March Madness for the first time since 1985, and Sister Jean quickly became the story of the tournament as Loyola survived nail-biter after nail-biter to reach the Final Four in San Antonio.
Sister Jean is more than just a fan. Ramblers players have lauded her for her basketball knowledge and the scouting reports she puts together on Loyola’s opponents. She began incorporating those scouting reports into the team’s opening prayer against heavily favored Illinois during Loyola’s 2021 March Madness appearance. Loyola beat the No. 1 seed Illini by 13.
In the years since, Loyola has continued moving up the college basketball pecking order, and Sister Jean is still in the stands cheering the Ramblers on. In 2023, she and college basketball writer Seth Davis published a book together titled Wake Up With Purpose!: What I’ve Learned in My First Hundred Years.
“Tomorrow is Sister Jean’s 105th birthday!!!!!” Davis wrote via X on Tuesday. “She is truly a gift from heaven and remains 100 percent joyful, sharp and full of PURPOSE!”
Oklahoma men’s basketball coach Porter Moser, who coached the Ramblers during their 2018 and 2021 tournament runs, posted a photo he took with Sister Jean after her birthday mass this week.
“Happy Birthday to my dear Friend Sister Jean! 🎉🎊,” he wrote. “Was so great to be back in Chi with her this past week celebrating her 105th Birthday !!👏👏 Still working 5 days a week impacting the LUC students !❤️ No ONE like her !”
Despite her age, Sister Jean remains sharp. In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times published Wednesday, August 21, she looked back on her century of experience and said it gives her “courage to keep going to the future.”
She also weighed in on her city hosting the 2024 Democratic National Convention, the Israel-Hamas war and her goal moving into the future.
“I still want to remain a happy person,” she said.
The Loyola community will celebrate Sister Jean’s birthday on August 29 with a block party in her honor on campus.