Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, chaplain of the team of the Loyola University Chicago basketball team that became a national celebrity during the school’s 2018 underdog. March Madness run, has died at 106 years old.
The university confirmed his death. in a statement on social media.
“This is a tremendous loss for someone who touched the lives of so many people. We appreciate everyone’s thoughts. & prayers during this difficult time,” the university said in a statement.
Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt turns 100 on Wednesday, August 21, 2019. Sister Jean is surprised after she was given an NCAA Final Four ring before the Loyola Ramblers played the Nevada Wolf Pack in 2018 at Gentile Arena in Chicago, Illinois.
(Armando L. Sánchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
In an announcement last month, just a month after his 106th birthday, the university said Schmidt was retiring and leaving his official duties at the school.
In a letter to students and other members of the university community sent on his birthday in August, Schmidt said he was unable to travel to campus to celebrate due to a “bad summer cold and other health issues.”
She wrote, “That makes me very sad, but you can still celebrate” and encouraged students to “make new friends. Talk to your old friends. Enjoy your move and your preparations for class.”
Schmidt became a nationally recognized figure during the 2018 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, when Loyola University Chicago, which entered March Madness as an 11th seed, reached the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.
Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt celebrates with head coach Porter Moser of the Loyola Ramblers after defeating the Kansas State Wildcats during the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball South Regional Tournament at Philips Arena on March 24, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. Loyola defeated Kansas State 78-62.
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Schmidt’s presence on the court, always adorned in the team’s maroon and gold colors, and his enthusiastic applause for the team caught the attention of fans and national broadcasters.
“In many roles at Loyola over more than 60 years, Sister Jean was an invaluable source of wisdom and grace to generations of students, faculty and staff,” Loyola President Mark C. Reed said in a statement. “While we feel pain and loss, there is great joy in her legacy. Her presence was a profound blessing to our entire community and her spirit lives on in thousands of lives. In her honor, we can hope to share with others the love and compassion that Sister Jean shared with us.”
Sister Jean Dolores-Schmidt celebrates after the Loyola Ramblers beat the Tennessee Volunteers 63-62 in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at the American Airlines Center on March 17, 2018 in Dallas, Texas.
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Born Dolores Bertha Schmidt in San Francisco on August 21, 1919, she joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1937, taking the name Sister Jean Dolores, according to a university obituary.
A basketball player in her youth, Schmidt later became a nun, then an elementary school teacher and started girls’ sports programs before turning to college basketball.
Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt prays her pregame prayer for the Loyola men’s basketball team on March 2, 2013, in Chicago, Illinois.
(Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
He came to the university’s Lake Shore campus in 1961 to teach at Mundelein College, which affiliated with Loyola in 1991.
She first became an academic advisor for the men’s basketball team in 1994 and later became the team’s chaplain.
He published his memoirs in 2023, “Wake Up with Purpose!: What I’ve Learned in My First Hundred Years.”
In a 2023 interview with ABC News, Schmidt said, “I think sports [are] “It’s very important because they help develop life skills, and during those life skills you also talk about faith and purpose.”
