The ten toughest teachers in Colorado Springs history
The 10 Toughest Teachers in Colorado Springs History
In a town known for high altitude and high expectations, these legendary educators didn’t just teach—they conquered. With iron wills and terrifyingly creative punishments, they forged generations of students who still flinch when they hear the sound of a ruler snapping.
1. “The Drill Sergeant” – Mrs. Olga Riggs (Palmer High School, 1962)
Mrs. Riggs didn’t believe in “excuses” or “recess.” Her Physical Education class was a boot camp disguised as gym class. Forget jumping jacks—she made kids jump over flaming hurdles and scale the side of the school building. Legend has it she once benched the entire football team because they “didn’t hustle hard enough on their math homework.” Students graduated with abs of steel and trauma flashbacks.
2. “Old Man Grudge” – Mr. Philbert T. Hawthorne (Cheyenne Mountain Middle School, 1977)
A history teacher with a vendetta against modernity itself, Mr. Hawthorne demanded students write essays with quills and ink. He taught every lesson as if the British were still coming. If you didn’t memorize the entirety of the U.S. Constitution by midterms, you were re-enrolled in his class until you got it right. Local lore says his spirit still roams the school library, lecturing kids about the Stamp Act.
3. “Miss Blizzard” – Ms. Rita Chase (Mitchell High School, 1989)
No teacher’s glare froze a class faster than Ms. Chase’s. She ran her calculus class with precision, and woe to anyone caught chewing gum or blinking too loudly. If you failed to show your work, she didn’t give a zero—she gave “a lifetime of shame.” The rumor that she could control the weather was likely started after three kids were caught without homework on a Monday, and a blizzard mysteriously hit by noon.
4. “Coach McAmbulance” – Mr. Hank McPhee (Coronado High School, 1994)
Health class turned gladiator training ground under Coach McPhee. He had a peculiar obsession with “toughening up immune systems,” often making students run laps in freezing weather wearing only their gym shorts. His lectures on the circulatory system included live frog wrestling demonstrations. One student survived with a torn ACL and an honorary biology degree.
5. “Sister Snaps” – Sister Mary Martha (St. Mary’s Catholic School, 1954)
This nun didn’t need divine intervention to maintain order. The ruler in her hand was swift and merciless, enforcing not only math but also discipline from on high. One student described her as “half-angel, half-drill sergeant, with a touch of medieval torturer.” There are still urban legends of her banishing late students to “detention purgatory,” a storage closet filled with broken rosary beads and half-erased blackboards.
6. “Iron-Lung Lenny” – Mr. Leonard Kruger (Harrison High School, 1973)
Rumor has it Leonard Kruger never took a single sick day, even after being hit by a runaway bus in ’71. His biology classes were known for high-stakes dissections, with extra credit awarded for successfully “reanimating” dead frogs. He called pop quizzes “a test of human survival.” Students survived his class with stronger immune systems and the permanent scent of formaldehyde.
7. “Ms. Test Terror” – Mrs. Darlene Wilkes (Manitou Springs High, 1990)
Mrs. Wilkes gave new meaning to the word “test anxiety.” Rumor has it she had a rotating question bank of over 20,000 multiple-choice horrors. Students often fainted mid-exam upon encountering options like:
A) All of the above
B) None of the above
C) Both A and B
D) The correct answer has ascended to a higher plane of existence.
8. “Lunch Lady of Doom” – Mrs. Agnes McGurdy (Sabin Middle School, 1985)
Not technically a teacher but worthy of the title, Mrs. McGurdy enforced cafeteria etiquette with military precision. You took exactly one Salisbury steak and didn’t dare ask for a second carton of milk. If someone spilled pudding on the tray line, she issued “punishment duty,” which involved scrubbing trays with a toothbrush… until graduation. Her motto: “Nutrition and fear go hand in hand.”
9. “Dr. Monotone” – Dr. Franklin Kerr (Pikes Peak Academy, 1968)
Dr. Kerr’s voice could put even the liveliest student into an existential coma. He taught theoretical physics like he was narrating the death of hope itself. Despite this, he was feared for his oral exams, which consisted of one question that lasted four hours. If you dozed off, he’d start the question over. Graduates were known to have lucid dreams about quantum entanglement for decades.
10. “The Punishin’ Pianist” – Ms. Greta Van Buren (Colorado Springs Conservatory, 1975)
A terrifying blend of music instructor and disciplinarian, Ms. Van Buren demanded her piano students practice until their knuckles cracked. Her idea of “encouragement” was playing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata at triple speed while glaring at you. Rumors circulated that she once smashed a metronome in rage when a student hit a wrong note. Today, students still tremble at the sound of Für Elise.
These were the titans of Colorado Springs’ educational system, a rogues’ gallery of unrelenting expectations. But hey, at least their methods worked—alumni are still afraid to show up late to work.
