Lynyrd Skynyrd Namesake Dies at 77

Leonard Skinner, the basketball coach and gym teacher who inspired the name of rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, has died in Jacksonville. He was 77.

Skinner's daughter, Susie Moore, says Skinner died in his sleep early Monday morning at the St. Catherine Laboure Manor, where he had been living for about a year. He had Alzheimer's disease.

Skinner was working at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville in the late 1960s when he sent a group of students to the principal's office because their hair was too long. Those students later formed a band, using a variation of Skinner's name for their own.

Proving to be a good sport, Skinner allowed the band to use a photo of his Leonard Skinner Realty sign for the inside of their third album.

During an interview in January 2009, Mr. Skinner said he was just following the rules about hair length, the Florida Times Union reports. It always bothered him that the legend grew to say he was particularly tough on them, or that he'd kicked them out of school.

"It was against the school rules. I don't particularly like long hair on men, but again, it wasn't my rule," he said, according to the newspaper.