Sister Jean of Loyola-Chicago, this year's March Madness sensation, has an Iowa connection
Aaron YoungThere's been a lot to love if you're a fan or follower of this year's NCAA Tournament, supplied with bracket-busting upsets, buzzer-beating shots and other moments that have rocketed the college basketball internet.
Then there's Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt: The 98-year-old chaplain for the 11th-seeded Loyola-Chicago men’s basketball team, which defeated No. 9-seed Kansas State 78-62 in the Elite Eight Saturday in Atlanta and advanced to the Final Four.
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And yes, Sister Jean has a connection to Iowa.
As reported by Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune, Sister Jean joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary convent in Dubuque after her high school years in San Francisco.
She has become a national sensation during the tournament because of her inspirational pre-game prayers to the Ramblers. There's even a petition online, started by a Loyola student, to get Sister Jean on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
You can also get your own Sister Jean bobblehead.
"Sister Jean always says a prayer just before the team runs onto the court — and I didn’t know that," Clayton Custer, a former Cyclone who hit the game-winning shot for Loyola vs. No.3-seed Tennessee in the tournament's second round, told Des Moines Register Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson. "Somehow, in her prayer, she manages to throw in some tips on how to beat the team we’re playing — it’s kind of her scouting report."
Custer told Peterson he's seen that shot "replayed a million times, and I still can’t believe that ball went in the basket."
"It was Sister Jean," he added. "She's got that connection to The Man Upstairs, you know."
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Sister Jean has been the men's basketball team's chaplain for 25 years. Earlier this week, she appeared on "Good Morning America" where she talked about her sudden celebrity status.
"I'm just having a lot of fun," she said. "It's seemed to mushroom all of a sudden. I really don't know how all this has happened. I kept getting emails and telephone calls, people from California to the East Coast have sent me emails. ... It's just brought so many happy memories to me."
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She also shared what exactly she tells the Rambler players:
"We meet outside the locker room, in the concourse, wherever the place where we are helps us to do that," Sister Jean said. "And I say a prayer, but sometimes there’s a little more than talking to God in the prayer.
"But I do begin with: 'Good and gracious God, today, we hope to win this game. We ask to give us courage. We already have the confidence. We’re focused, we know we want to work hard. At the end of the game, we want to be sure that when the buzzer goes off that the numbers indicate that we get the big W. I pray for the other team — perhaps not as hard. But that’s what people tell me, but we have God on our side. And these young men have great faith, and if you don’t have confidence in faith, then you might as well not be playing.'"
Juliet Macur of The New York Times caught up with retired nuns, identifying themselves as BVMs, who know Sister Jean and are currently living at the Dubuque headquarters.
They are impressed with Sister Jean's on-air composure and presence.
"How many young people would usually be interacting with a 98-year-old like this?" Sister Pat Donahoe told the Times. "I think she's enjoying it, and I think lots of people think it's wonderful to hear what she has to say.
"This is a win-win situation."
And how can you not love that?
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