CHICAGO — Former Loyola star Lucas Williamson saw Sister Jean, the Ramblers’ team chaplain and the world’s most famous basketball-loving nun, two weeks ago at the senior living facility where she lived on Chicago’s Gold Coast.

Sister Jean, whose formal name was Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, died Thursday at the age of 106.

Health issues had forced her to slow down a bit, but telling Sister Jean to slow down was like telling a butterfly to stop flapping its wings.

“She was mad that she was advised to rest and take it easy and not be around the team,” Williamson told the Chicago Tribune Friday. “She was fine though, She stood up and was somewhat mobile, so it comes as a shock to me because I’d just seen her and she was fine.

“Now it’s more of reflecting on who she was, the values that she stood for and her commitment to serving people and the love that she spread. It’s a testament to her when so many people come out and say they had nothing but positive memories and experiences with her.

“That’s the type of person she was and the values that she had. Ultimately that’s what our university represents.”

Sister Jean burst onto the national scene in 2018 when Loyola made a surprise run to the Final Four, the proverbial Cinderella team with a 5-foot-tall nun as its focal point. She quickly became a media celebrity and a frequent focus of the March Madness telecasts, making a 99-year-old nun the center of attention.

“She loved it,” Williamson said. “She was in her 90s when she was becoming a celebrity. But when I first met her, I was 18, and she had more energy than me. Whenever I had to go see Sister Jean, it was like, ‘I can’t let someone over 90 have more energy than me. That’s not right.’

“It’s part of her incredible story. When we were making our run to the Final Four and I look over and there’s, no exaggeration, like 50 cameras in front of Sister Jean … She handled it well and loved it.”

Being a sports celebrity in Chicago isn’t easy. People are always pulling on you, asking for selfies or interviews. Yet when you think of Chicago sports, you can easily put her alongside the greats like Michael Jordan, Walter Payton and Ryne Sandberg.

They all epitomized their respective teams in the same way Sister Jean did at Loyola. She’s still the first person you think of when someone mentions Loyola basketball.

Coach Drew Valentine, who was an assistant under former coach Porter Moser during the Final Four team that made Sister Jean into a star, said whenever he’s in an airport or out of town wearing Loyola gear, the first thing someone says to him is “Sister Jean!”

How did Sister Jean manage to keep her wits about her when everyone wanted a piece of her?

“You would never know that it was too much for her,” Valentine said Friday at Gentile Arena in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. “She handled it with so much excitement and excellence. She spent time with everybody. At first, with recruits, we’d try to go through different people in charge of her care to make sure she’d be in her office or on campus.

“And then the last few years she was like ‘I’m going to be in my office. You know my hours. Bring by whoever you want.’ She’d do an amazing job. She put (recruits) on the spot immediately with their families. She’d be like, ‘Cmon, you want to take a picture (with me). You’re going to want this picture when you come here and when you graduate four years from now.’

“She handled it amazingly. That’s why there is so much good energy and why people took such a liking to her. She embraced that (celebrity) and was so witty and handled it with so much grace.”

Valentine recently saw Sister Jean on a visit with Loyola athletic director Steve Watson and Williamson, currently a G League player with the Memphis Grizzlies organization.

“Same old sister, (talking) basketball right away,” Valentine said. “Non-stop and telling stories. Her room was all decorated with Loyola stuff, and she sat right up and was talking to Lucas about what he was doing professionally and asking me about certain players on the team. It was great to see her that last time.”

Valentine still cherishes the notes she wrote him with “suggestions,” like hitting more free throws and guarding the 3-point line better. She often made players laugh before games by praying for the referees to call a good game.

“It was definitely funny after the game, I always looked forward to reading (her notes) and I have a big collection upstairs,” Valentine said. “So much fun. I’ll remember those forever.”

Valentine said it was too soon to determine what kind of patch the Ramblers would wear this season to honor Sister Jean, but noted that she definitely will be part of this year’s team. An “In memorium” photo hung on the wall of Gentile Arena on Friday, right behind one of the baskets, where she would gather players together for the pregame prayer.

These are trying times in this country. Every day brings more anger and divisiveness, and nowhere is that more apparent than in Chicago, where a president has declared war on a peaceful city minding its own business. Sister Jean was the perfect representative for our town: a spiritual, sports-loving person whose only goal was bringing people together through love, faith and basketball.

“Not only does she symbolize what our university is and what it’s about and the values we hold — service to other people and all the Jesuit values, being a man and woman for others,” Williamson said. “But on the sports’ side, there have been so many people that’ve come to me and said, ‘I know exactly where I was and what bar I was in watching you guys play when you made that (Final Four) run.’ When people see Sister Jean, they’re immediately reminded of that run. Whether you cheered for us or not, that shared experience will live on for a long time.

“That’s really important, especially in this day and age where there is so much divisiveness. When we have shared experiences and people that represent unity and bringing people together, that’s ultimately what people will see. That’s what Sister Jean’s legacy will be.”

When Loyola plays its first home game on Nov. 3 against Cleveland State, the loss of Sister Jean will likely hit home even more with players and Ramblers fans. She was a fixture at home games and her presence was always felt.

“Everybody looked forward to seeing her at the games,” Williamson said. “But at the end of the day, the first person Sister Jean served was God, and he called her name.

“That’s a blessing. Her work on earth is finished.”

©2025 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.