Sad news yesterday on NPR that Leonard Skinner, former Robert E. Lee High School (Jacksonville, Fla.) gym coach, died at the age of 77. In the late 1960s, Coach Skinner sent Gary Rossington & a few other budding rockers to the principal's office for violating school policy by wearing their hair long. In mocking tribute, they later named their band Lynyrd Skynyrd, (1973 debut album: "Pronounced Lehn-nerd Skin-nerd").
A Sinatra fan who considered most rock 'n' roll noise, Mr. Skinner nevertheless allowed the band to use a photo of his real-estate company sign for the inner sleeve of their third album. He came to regret it after receiving many late-night calls from drunken Lynyrd Skynyrd fans. Members of the band once jammed at Skinner's bar, The Still, on San Juan Avenue.
His son, Leonard Skinner Jr, told "All Things Considered" yesterday that his father enjoyed the notoriety he'd gained & that he particularly dug Skynyrd's song "Gimme Three Steps." When I met retired Skynyrd guitarist (& co-writer of "Sweet Home Alabama") Ed King in Nashville last winter, he called that band's singer/frontman, the late Ronnie VanZant (1948-77, died in a plane crash while on tour for the "Street Survivor" album), a poet.
But Ed grew up in the LA area, so he hadn't been subject to Coach Skinner's old-school Southern discipline. Rest in peace, Coach Skinner! Lynyrd Skynyrd lives!
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