'As real as it gets': Lanphier High School's biggest cheerleader steps into retirement
Tony Daniel said one of the things he will miss most about Lanphier High School principal Curdis "Artie" Doss, who retired on Tuesday, is how he continually rooted on students, whether greeting them at the 11th Street door, during morning announcements or at basketball games wearing his familiar orange blazer.
Doss did the same at an emotional all-school assembly at the new Lober-Nika Gymnasium last week.
"That's not a show," insisted Daniel, a security officer and a girls basketball assistant, cross country and track and field coach who has been at Lanphier for 30 years. "That's him, as real as it gets and showing the community and showing the faculty and staff and kids how important Lanphier High School is."
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Doss, the longest-serving high school principal in Springfield, left on his 60th birthday. He has been with District 186 since 2000, starting as a special needs teacher at Southeast High School. He took over the top spot at the north end school in 2010.
Assistant principal Alicia Miller recently was tabbed as Lanphier's interim principal.
Doss is a full-time minister at Holy Trinity Worship Center. Doss' father, the Rev. Jerry Dean Doss, founder of Victory Temple Church of God in Christ, was also a minister as are several of his siblings, including the Rev. Jerry Wayne Doss at Abundant Faith Christian Center; the Rev. Lesa Branham, at First Congregational United Church of Christ and the Rev. Cletus "CC" Doss at Love Deliverance Evangelistic Church.
Doss' wife, Cheryl, the district's coordinator of Project SCOPE (Serving Children of Parents Employed), is retiring this summer.
"We'll miss their love and their support of our students greatly," Superintendent Jennifer Gill said last month. "I don't think we will not see him in the district supporting us in many ways. He served well in District 186, served students who needed us the most and has been there every single day working diligently."
Springfield Education Association President Aaron Graves noted that Doss guided the school through some tumultuous times, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and he helped it "cope and heal" in the aftermath of the Nov. 17, 2021, stabbing death of Lanphier senior Pierre V. Scott Jr. outside of the school.
Doss exited just six weeks after the school community moved into a completely overhauled and revitalized $93.2 million structure, which Graves referred to as "the North Grand marvel."
"The pride he instilled in Lanphier helped to move generations," Graves added.
Longtime art instructor Kristen Jurgens said Doss served as a father figure to many Lanphier students and handled tough situations with "grace and professionalism."
Doss, Jurgens said, also had a listening ear for her and her colleagues.
"We had no hesitation in talking to him about difficulties in or outside the classroom," she said.
Doug Collins, a basketball star at Lanphier who played at Iowa State and came back to coach the Lady Lions, said one of his proudest moments was Doss standing with the 2020 team that made the Class 3A state finals in Normal.
But Collins, 54, knew Doss as an athlete, a mentor, a teacher and a coach before he knew him as his principal.
"You talk about a man who has to wear many faces and still has to be a father and a husband," Collins observed. "My hat is off to him.
"Of course, we're sad (to see him go). We shared a lot of good memories over the course of the 14 years together. We've faced some adversity over the course of the 14 years, and we still rose to the occasion, and we still stood."
The Rev. Jerry Wayne Doss said he was moved at the assembly when one student yelled out to his brother, "Dr. Doss, I love you man."
"Just to know when those kids feel the love," Jerry Doss said, "they want to do the very best they can to excel and do well in school."
"He loved the students. He loved the staff," Collins said. "What else can you say?"
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Artie Doss retires as principal of Springfield's Lanphier High School
