Chicago’s Loyola hits home for prof COMMENTARY
Kevin Caliendo has spent years explaining which Loyola he was cheering.
Because there are a bunch of Jesuit colleges that use the Loyola name — Ignatius of Loyola founded the Jesuit order — it’s easy to get confused. Add that Loyola-Marymount became the best known Loyola after its basketball success in the late 1980s, and Caliendo always understood when people got mixed up.
“I’m from the Chicago one,” he would say.
He doesn’t need to clarify nowadays — his
Loyola has become the Loyola.
As the Final Four tips off in San Antonio, Loyola-Chicago will be there alongside basketball bluebloods Kansas, Villanova and Michigan. The Ramblers have taken this tournament by storm with their starless team that plays beautiful basketball, their spunky nun who has become a cult hero and their scarf-wearing fans who look like Gryffindor extras from a “Harry Potter” movie.
Even though Loyola-Chicago boasts alumni in every state and 120 foreign countries, there are no alumni chapters in Oklahoma. The closest one is in St. Louis.
Caliendo, who is an English professor at Rose State College, doesn’t often run into people who know about Loyola-Chicago much less who cheer for the Ramblers.
So having the sports world buzzing about Loyola-Chicago is surreal.
“I put them in the Sweet 16 in my bracket just being kind of hopeful,” he said. “But it’s just been a lot of fun.”
Caliendo had seen the power of college sports before. He moved to Oklahoma when he was in high school and lived in Norman. He was an undergrad at Oklahoma when Bob Stoops became the football coach. Caliendo loved the Sooners — still does — and he remembers how the vibe in Norman changed as football returned to national prominence.
When Caliendo went to Loyola-Chicago in 2010 to start doctorate studies in medieval literature, he found a different feeling about sports on campus. Apathy. Loyola-Chicago doesn’t have football, and even though its men’s basketball team won the national championship in 1963, those glory days felt long ago and far away. There was little more than a mention of that title on the outside of the arena.
“I thought it was amazing at the time — ‘Wow, they won a national championship,’” Caliendo said.
Basketball never won more than 16 games during the three years Caliendo was a student. Crowds numbered in the hundreds, and tickets were easily found for $5. About the only time there was a big crowd was when Butler, then a conference foe in the Horizon League, came to town.
But since the Loyola-Chicago campus is on Lake Michigan midway between downtown Chicago and Evanston, students never wanted for things to do. They could hop a train for Wrigley Field or Northwestern, museums or theaters. They weren’t going to watch bad basketball when they had so many other options.
Caliendo thought basketball might one day be a draw again — “I always just felt like there was a lot of potential there,” he said, “because there are so many good players in that part of the country” — but he figured Loyola-Chicago winning the CBI postseason tournament a few years ago might be as good as it would get.
What’s happened these last couple weeks, then, is beyond his wildest dreams.
“When they made it to the Sweet 16, I kept saying, ‘I’m not nervous. Anything from here on is just gravy,’” Caliendo said. “But when the game started ... I was really nervous.”
After each win, texts have filled his phone and messages have flooded his social media. Everyone is so happy for his team, though a few have inquired whether he could put them in touch with Sister Jean.
For the record, Caliendo crossed paths numerous times with the team chaplain turned tournament icon.
“She’s very supportive of the campus as a whole,” he said. “I’ve seen her at graduations and campus events. She’s just really a part of the community there.”
Caliendo just loves that this Final Four run has exposed so many people to his school. He enjoys talking hoops when fellow professors pop into his office where a Loyola-Chicago diploma hangs on his wall. He relishes seeing his students try to score Brownie points by talking up the Ramblers.
“They’ve been brushing up on their Loyola knowledge,” he said, laughing.
Safe to say, they’re even bigger fans since Caliendo decided to head to San Antonio this weekend for the Final Four. If Loyola-Chicago wins Saturday, Caliendo and his family will stay for the national championship game on Monday — and his classes will be canceled.
“That’s not like me,” he said of making a trip on such short notice. “I usually plan things in advance, but you really can’t plan for this.”
Kevin Caliendo didn’t even allow himself to dream about it, but when the Final Four begins Saturday, Loyola-Chicago will be there.
His Loyola. Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405475-4125 or jcarlson@ oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/ JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/ jennicarlson_ok or view her personality page at newsok.com/jennicarlson.