Clock strikes midnight
Sister Jean’s Cinderella team comes up short
SAN ANTONIO — They began wheeling Sister Jean out of the arena with 1:39 left, to a spot near the tunnel so she could wait for her vanquished, broken-hearted Loyola Chicago Ramblers, their eyes already straining to hold back the tears.
No Miracle, no national championship final on Monday night, no One Shining Moment for Sister Jean and her beloved Ramblers, 69-57 losers to Michigan. One by one, Sister Jean greeted the distraught Loyola players, who bent down to hug her.
She has lived a wonderful, fulfilling life for 98 years, so naturally she understands more that it is not a bowl of cherries, and is better prepared than any college student could possibly be to cope with the agony of defeat, the agony of collapsing because of uncharacteristic mistakes after holding a 10-point lead early in the second half, the agony of losing a halftime lead for the first time in 25 games, the agony of getting steamrolled by Michigan big man Moe Wagner (24 points, 15 rebounds).
One by one, she would console them with: “It’s OK, it’s OK.” She told them she was proud of them. “Sister Jean said it was a great season,” Aundre Jackson said. “She was so happy to be on this run with us and we should keep our heads high and be happy with what we accomplished.”
Carson Shanks sat at his locker with tears in his eyes that he had brought into the locker room.
“I thanked her for all of her support, that she means so much to me and the rest of our team, that she’s owed a thank you,” Shanks said.
Sister Jean waited in her wheelchair near a wall not far from a closed Loyola locker room. I introduced myself and shook her hand and she smiled that captivating smile. When I asked her if she was proud of her Ramblers, she said, “Of course,” and the smile hadn’t deserted her.
“We look at her and we’ve got almost like a guiding light ... we know regardless of how we’re doing, we’ve got a light at the end of the tunnel, that is Sister Jean,” Shanks said.
He is a senior reserve, a big man from Minnesota. I asked him what impact Sister Jean has made on this country.
“I think it shows that even though she’s a 98-year-old woman,” Shanks said, “it doesn’t matter your age ... it’s about the fight. It’s about the fight in the person, the pride in the person, and I think she showed that.
“She’s a little old nun in a wheelchair, and she showed that if you believe in yourself, if you believe in others, that you can do whatever you need to do.”
As corny and improbable as it might sound, this Loyola Chicago team exemplified that as well.
“I think we take a little bit of our identity from Sister Jean, for sure,” Shanks said.
They were long on savvy, moxie, grit and toughness, and their magic carpet ride ended too early for them. They believed they would be national champions.
“A couple of weeks down the road when we get over this, there’s gonna be memories for the rest of our lives that we’re gonna share with each other,” Cameron Krutwig said. “It stings now but the memories are definitely gonna outweigh the pain.”
Sister Jean goes home now, a celebrity with her own bobblehead, her face on T-shirts and socks, the face of this NCAA Tournament, and America sings her a March Sadness goodbye. Only an April fool won’t miss her. A 9-year-old boy walking through the Loyola hotel lobby with his father earlier in the day was wearing a “Win 1 For the Nun” T-shirt he got Friday at the mall.
“I just like Sister Jean, and I think they play really well,” Michael Galligan said, “and I like the underdog a lot.”
I asked him what it is he liked so much about Sister Jean.
“She’s nice, and she kind of gives the team this like spirit,” he said, “and I say Sister Jean is the new Cinderella.”
Yes, Cinderella can be 98 years young. For the rest of her life, win or lose. Whether the clock strikes midnight or not. She was an inspiration not only to an inspirational basketball team. But to the entire country as well. Nun better.