By Radiance Cooper
No one expected the Loyola Ramblers to reach the Final Four.
But the players aren’t the real story. Sister Jean is.
Sister Jean, the 98-year-old team chalpain, recently told CNN, “You probably know, I corrected the reporter the other day. She said, ‘You’re national.’ I said, ‘No, we’re international.’”
With her new worldwide attention came marketing opportunities – for Loyola and other companies.
In addition to the more than 25 Sister Jean T-shirts that are currently sold at Loyola, a new bobblehead of Sister Jean, featuring her Loyola scarf and jacket, is available for pre-order for $25 from the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum.
According to the museum, it became the bestselling bobblehead in the museum’ history within 40 hours. 60 percent of orders came from outside Illinois.
The bobbleheads must still be manufactured, so they won’t reach customers until June.
Sophomore Naomi Gargiulo said that she felt sister Jean’s rise to fame was going to happen at some point, regardless of what happened during the NCAA championship.
“She’s always been her own sort of celebrity on campus, but now she has memes and that’s kind of weird, ”Gargiulo said. “I live in Regis and she used to live down the hall from me so it’s funny seeing her on t-shirts or seeing her on the news and everything.”
