As first reported by Matt Fortuna of The Inside Zone, Loyola Chicago is set to unveil a statue of legendary men’s basketball team chaplain Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt on Friday, August 21.
The statue will be located in the heart of Loyola Chicago’s campus on the West Quad outside the University’s Damen Student Center. It was sculpted by Littleton Alston, the Professor of Sculpture at Creighton University. (Atlantic 10 fans will be glad to hear he holds a BFA from VCU.)
It’s debut arrives on what would
have been Sister Jean’s 107th birthday and a little more than 10 months after her passing, which came just prior to the start of the 2025-26 college basketball season.
You cannot tell the story of Loyola Chicago men’s basketball without mentioning Sister Jean. She arrived in Chicago in 1961 when she was sent to teach at Mundelein College and became an active member in the city’s civil rights and social justice movements.
However, in 1991, when Mundelein merged with Loyola Chicago, Schmidt followed as an assistant dean and just three years later, joined the men’s basketball program as an academic advisor.
By 1996, Sister Jean had fully transitioned into her role as team chaplain, where she led pregame prayers, provided spiritual guidance, and even studied opposing box scores to offer scouting support for players and coaches.
Though the men’s basketball team struggled to win any silverware throughout the early part of Sister Jean’s time as chaplain, she quickly ingrained herself within the program even amid several coaching changes.
So much so that, in 2011, the university’s athletic department announced a Sister Jean Bobblehead Night, and in 2014, honored her with Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, BVM Day on campus.
In 2016, Loyola Chicago presented Sister Jean with an honorary doctorate for her 50-plus years of commitment and service to the school. Finally, in 2017, she was officially inducted into the Ramblers’ Athletics Hall of Fame during a Jan. 21 win over Evansville at Gentile Arena
It was in 2018, though, when Sister Jean truly became a national college basketball icon.
The Ramblers finished that regular-season with a 32-6 record under head coach Porter Moser and won both the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles to garner an 11 seed at the NCAA Tournament.
With Sister Jean firmly affixed beside their bench, the Ramblers mustered upsets over nationally ranked Miami (FL), Tennessee, and Nevada before ultimately downing Kansas State to book a spot in the Final Four in one of our personal favorite mid-major tournament runs of recent memory.
As Loyola Chicago rode her magic to the national semifinal, Sister Jean became an international celebrity. Holding her own press conferences, her bracket was broken by her beloved Ramblers, comparisons to Tom Brady at the Super Bowl, and, of course, several heartwarming moments courtside with the players and coaches.
Come 2021, though, as the Ramblers finally made their NCAA Tournament return with a Sweet Sixteen run, sister Jean was forced to support her team virtually while the COVID-19 pandemic raged on.
Thus, it wasn’t until 2022 that Sister Jean made her own illustrious March return as new head coach Drew Valentine led the Ramblers to a fifth straight 20-win season and a conference tournament crown.
Though Loyola Chicago’s exit was early, ousted by Ohio State in the First Round, a then 102-year-old Sister Jean once again had an opportunity to shine on college basketball’s biggest stage.
After several more years on the sidelines for the Ramblers, it was reported in September 2025 that Sister Jean had retired from all on-campus duties due to health reasons before she ultimately passed a month later at the age of 106.
Asked by Hoops HQ’s Seth Davis what she’d like to the world to remember her for, Sister Jean’s answer was simple:
“My kindness, for my love of sports, for my love of my community, Loyola, for my love of teaching. That whatever I do, I really enjoy doing and it’s been that way all the time,” she said.
In her 34 years as a member of Loyola Chicago, Sister Jean served not only Rambler Athletics and the school as a whole, but also her faith, the city of Chicago, and the college basketball community at large.
When Loyola Chicago officially introduces its newest on-campus monument on August 21, the school will be doing so, in part, to honor what we all enjoy most about college basketball.
The people, players and the stories that make up these unique and distinctive programs we’ve all come to know and love, like Sister Jean. Revered for her kindness, her love of sport, her support for the Loyola Chicago community, and for teaching the world about Ramblers basketball.
