BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – As he looked ahead to the upcoming season Wednesday, Oklahoma coach Porter Moser reflected on the life of one of his favorite people: Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, who died last week at the age of 106.
Moser said he will miss his friend.
“My heart is sad,” said Moser, who planned to fly to Chicago after SEC media day for Sister Jean's funeral Mass on Thursday. “It's also joy and gratitude that she was in my life. I vibe with energetic, positive people. I will never meet someone who had such a positive attitude and spread that attitude to other people more than Sister Jean. And I was lucky enough to be her friend.”
Sister Jean became a national icon by supporting Moser and her Loyola-Chicago team during their run to the Final Four in 2018. While her passion for basketball made her famous and attracted the attention of celebrities and politicians, including former President Joe Biden, who once sent her flowers, she endeared herself to the university community that loved her.
Moser said she was always surprised by Sister Jean's independence. Although he was wheelchair-bound during packed news conferences and nationally televised interviews during his favorite team's miraculous NCAA Tournament seven years ago, Moser remembers moving around the Loyola-Chicago campus in his favorite sneakers.
“She was always running in her Nike shoes,” Porter said. “On the back, one said 'Sister' and the back of the other shoe said 'Jean.'”
Sister Jean lived in the dorms with students when she was 98, he said. And one night, Moser was leaving a parking lot after late-night recruiting calls when he saw her walking toward the dorms at 8:30 p.m. on a cold Chicago night. He offered her a ride, but she refused.
“She lived alone in the dorms,” he said. “Self-sufficient. Now think about that. She's 98 years old, she lives alone in the student dorm. I said, 'Sister Jean, jump in. I'll take you across the street to the dorm.' She says, 'No, no.' This is great for me.” “It had to be 10 degrees.”
Those who knew Sister Jean also understood that her passion for basketball was real, he said. She didn't like to be disturbed when watching games and would silence anyone who interrupted her viewing experience.
“I remember being a big basketball fan,” Moser said. “She loved my kids, but I remember she sat behind them at a game and shushed them. They were making noise and she said, 'Sshhh, I'm trying to watch the game.'”
But her warmth, humility and kindness toward others, Porter said, will be the lasting memory he will have of her. Sister Jean, who had been in Loyola-Chicago basketball since 1991, prayed for the Ramblers and their opponents. He also encouraged Moser's players and gave them pep talks before the game.
Moser said he and Sister Jean stayed in touch even after he left for Oklahoma in 2021.
He also attended his 105th and 106th birthday celebrations in Chicago.
As she prepared to fly to Chicago for Thursday's ceremony, she said she is confident in one thing: There will never be another person like Sister Jean.
“She meant everything to all of us before she became, in her words, the international star, not just a national star,” Moser said.
