![\"Sister](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screen-Shot-2025-10-18-at-8.02.30-PM-e1761021715940.png\")
<\/a>Sister Jean.<\/p><\/div>\n
I usually pay tribute here on INAM<\/em> to only people I either really<\/em> know or have at least met or have some kind of connection to. But Sister Jean was the person I\u2019ve most wanted<\/em> to meet in the seven years since I was first made aware of her. And she was absolutely darling, so I\u2019m happy to laud her here to mark her passing.<\/p>\n Upon learning of her leaving this level of life, I looked over what I\u2019ve written about Sister Jean through the years, in several of my March Madness* articles, and I can\u2019t sum-up my feelings for her better now than I did then. So I\u2019m sharing bits of what I wrote in those columns. *[Note: For you non<\/em> sports fans, \u201cMarch Madness\u201d is the semi-official moniker for the annual big-deal college basketball tournament.]<\/p>\n Here are a few of those admiring thoughts:<\/p>\n In 2018, I wrote:<\/strong> \u201cI took a few notes along the way, all three weeks of it, and I\u2019m happy to say that my very first one was, \u2018Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt\u2014Loyola-Chicago.\u2019 At their very first mention of her, I was all in. She was a star in my mind, so I\u2019m thrilled that she became the biggest one of the tournament as it went on. I right away tweeted, \u2018I sooo love that when Loyola-Chicago\u2019s Ramblers won today, instead of interviewing the coach, the sideline reporter interviewed Sister Jean, the team\u2019s adorable 98-year-old chaplain!!!\u00a0 Good call, TruTV!\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n The “Sister Jean” patch the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers will wear this year.<\/p><\/div>\n In 2021, I wrote:<\/strong> \u201cBut the thing I\u2019m looking the most forward in this entire three-week tournament is\u2026seeing Sister Jean again! For you March Madness nescients, she\u2019s the now-one-hundred-one-year-old Chaplain for the Loyola of Chicago team, who made it to the Final Four in 2018, but haven\u2019t been back since. And this now-famous nun is just about the most pleasant person I\u2019ve ever seen! I would love to meet her more than almost anybody else in the world! [Note: She\u2019s being allowed to be at the tourney because all the safety protocols have been followed. I\u2019m so happy for her, the team, and all of us, actually\u2014Sister Jean is who the world needs right now!]\u201d<\/p>\n In 2022, I wrote:<\/strong> \u201cAlso back, but very hopefully not even close to the last time, is Loyola Chicago\u2019s good luck charm, one-hundred-two-year-old<\/em> chaplain Sister Jean, the person in this world I\u2019d most like to be friends with. She\u2019s the most positive person I\u2019ve ever witnessed! There\u2019s always a smile on her face, no matter what<\/em> is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2025, I wrote:<\/strong> \u201cEvery year, some very unexpected person emerges from March Madness as the star. And it\u2019s rarely a player or coach. For example, in 2018, it was Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the now-one-hundred-and-five-year-old Chaplain for the Loyola-Chicago team. She\u2019s adorable, and is the most universally-beloved person I\u2019ve ever seen. And she\u2019s still\u00a0working!!!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>