A March Madness and college basketball icon had a very special birthday on Wednesday.
Sister Jean Schmidt of Loyola University Chicago turned 105 years old Wednesday, telling the Chicago Sun-Times “I still want to remain a happy person.”
Born in 1919, Sister Jean is just 11 years younger than the oldest person alive.
The chaplain for the school’s men’s basketball team went viral in 2018 when the Ramblers went on a magical run to the Final Four, beginning with a last-second three-pointer to down sixth-seed Miami in the first round.
Loyola-Chicago would rattle off three more improbable wins with Sister Jean courtside before falling to Michigan 69-57 in Houston.
“I live that time over and over again, it was just so fun,” she told the Sun-Times.
That legendary run was not curtains on Sister Jean’s March Madness legacy, as she would return to the big dance with her team twice more in 2021 and 2022 — making it back to the Sweet 16 during the former.
The university plans on celebrating her big milestone with a community block party on Aug. 29, not quite the same kind of pageantry as throwing out the first pitch at a Chicago Cubs game — which Sister Jean did at Wrigley Field for her 104th birthday last year.
