Lynyrd Skynyrd Namesake Dies at 77 in Fla.

Leonard Skinner, the basketball coach and gym teacher who inspired the name of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, died today in Florida at the age of 77, the AP reports. Skinner, who was suffering from Alzheimer's died in his sleep in an assisted living facility, his daughter said. Nearly 50 years ago, at a school in Jacksonville, Skinner sent a group of long-haired teenagers to detention: That small act guaranteed him a measure of rock immortality when they used a variation of his name for their band.
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