Dressed in her habit, Sister Mary Stephen Vamosy also wore a giant foam finger or waved a green-and-gold pompom from her seat at MVP Arena.
It was her way of showing people that nuns can enjoy themselves, too.
Vamosy, who died peacefully in her sleep this past week in Watervliet at 83 years old, was one of the two "Rally Nuns" who supported the Siena University men's basketball team. Their appearances on the video scoreboard at home games drove Saints fans wild.
"In this day and age, people aren't used to seeing sisters in a habit," said Sister James Marie Carras, the other "Rally Nun" who started attending games with Vamosy in 2003. "I always felt we were at our vocation mission. People could see that religious (people) had fun. They were normal people and had good times."
Vamosy and Carras were friends for 62 years, ever since they met in the convent at St. Colman's Home in Watervliet. Vamosy was two years ahead of Carras in the novitiate.
"We had the same likes," Carras said. "We just hit it off together."
Vamosy decided to become a nun after seeing photographs of poor children in Maryknoll Magazine, a Catholic publication, according to Carras. Vamosy visited the Sisters of St. Joseph, who directed her to St. Colman's after finding out she wanted to work with children.
"Where God wants you, you'll go," a sister told Vamosy, who later taught kindergartners at St. Ambrose School in Latham.
Their families became close. Carras, who is from Troy, visited the farm where Vamosy was raised in Stamford, Delaware County.
A love of Siena basketball also kept them inseparable. Their "Rally Nun" celebrity began when Siena fan Craig Allen, owner of All Star Wine & Spirits in Latham, noticed them on the scoreboard at a game of the former Albany River Rats of the American Hockey League.
"You know, we've got to put some more oomph in the game," Allen told season-ticket holder Patricia Bayly at a meeting of the advisory council for Saints Alive!, the Siena athletic booster club. "Everybody's sitting on their hands."
Allen gave Vamosy and Carras his floor seats, and they attended a National Invitation Tournament game between Siena and Western Michigan on March 23, 2003. The Saints won the first-round game 68-62, and a sensation was born.
Bayly, who jokingly describes herself as the sisters' agent, bought them Siena caps they wore over their wimples.
"The cameras focused on us, and it just took off," Carras recalled. "We were just naturally cheering everybody on. Oh my God, the kids, they went crazy when they saw us in our seats and the cameras focused on us. They all cheered."
The Rev. Kevin Mackin, the former Siena president who died last year, was the first to call them the "Rally Nuns" at Siena's annual ice cream social event. Siena gave them season tickets.
Vamosy and Carras didn't have a direct attachment to Siena.
"Our sisters used to go to school at Siena years ago, so we had a tie with them, and the Siena priests say Mass for us, so we're all Siena," Carras said.
As the Rally Nuns followed the team, the Saints became a Metro Conference powerhouse that went to three straight NCAA Tournaments from 2008 to 2010.
"The team, the crowds, they were just great," Carras said. "We just had a lot of fun."
Certainly, Siena had a fine coach in Fran McCaffery and star players. However, the sisters might have provided divine intervention.
"We hoped we did," Carras said. "We were praying. The people would say, 'Oh, we're going to win tonight. The Rally Nuns are here.'"
While Carras still attended games during Siena's run to the Metro title last season, Vamosy was unable to make it because of her health.
"She's always with me, and she's with the community," Carras said. "She was my best friend, but she was everybody's best friend. She would go in and light up a room. Her joy and presence just radiated."
SubscribeThere’s more to Albany with the Times Union. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Vamosy, one of Siena basketball's 'Rally Nuns', passes away at 83.