Loyola University Unveils Sister Jean Statue in Rogers Park, Honoring the Beloved Icon Who Lived to 106
By Socialhood News · Rogers Park ·
Rogers Park neighbors, a moment of genuine community pride unfolded this week right in the heart of the neighborhood. Members of the Loyola University Chicago community gathered on campus to unveil a new statue honoring the life and legacy of Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt — the beloved team chaplain who became a national sensation during the Ramblers' Cinderella NCAA tournament run in 2018 and who passed away last year at the remarkable age of 106.
The unveiling, reported by Block Club Chicago on August 21, 2026, brings a permanent tribute to one of the most recognizable figures ever associated with Loyola's lakefront campus at 1032 W. Sheridan Road — right here in Rogers Park. Sister Jean spent decades as a fixture of Loyola life, not just as a chaplain to the men's basketball team but as a counselor, mentor, and genuinely beloved neighbor to generations of students and Far North Side residents alike. Her warmth, her scouting reports, and her pre-game prayers made her a household name far beyond Chicago, but Rogers Park always knew her first.
For a neighborhood that wears its cultural diversity and community spirit as a badge of honor, a statue of Sister Jean is more than a campus landmark — it's a touchstone for the relationship between Loyola and the broader Rogers Park community that has grown side by side with the university for well over a century. Loyola's presence along Sheridan Road has long been one of the anchors of the neighborhood's identity, bringing students, faculty, staff, and visitors who patronize local restaurants, shops, and cultural venues year-round.
The statue joins a campus that is itself in the midst of significant growth. Urbanize Chicago has documented Loyola's ongoing expansion in Rogers Park, including a Plan Commission-approved new academic building at 6551 N. Sheridan — a six-story structure slated to house classrooms and laboratory space. Together, the new statue and the academic building signal a university doubling down on its roots in Rogers Park, investing in both the built environment and the human stories that give the neighborhood its character.
Sister Jean's legacy is inseparable from the values Rogers Park residents hold dear: inclusion, perseverance, joy, and showing up for your community no matter what. She was known to greet students by name, keep meticulous notes on opposing teams, and radiate a competitive spirit that belied her age right up until the end. That spirit — tenacious, warm, deeply local — is exactly what Rogers Park embodies at its best.
If you want to pay your respects and see the new statue for yourself, head to the Loyola University Chicago campus along Sheridan Road. The campus is easily accessible via the Red Line's Loyola stop at 1200 W. Sheridan Road, and the surrounding stretch of Sheridan offers some of Rogers Park's finest lakefront views. For more on Loyola campus news and events open to the community, visit luc.edu. Rogers Park, your neighborhood just got a little more permanent piece of history — go see it.
Sources:
1. https://blockclubchicago.org/
2. https://chicago.urbanize.city/neighborhood/rogers-park