Lynyrd Skynyrd’s inspiration dies at 77

[HMG Celebrity News] – Musicians claim all kinds of influences for their work, but when your gym teacher puts your band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, that’s something special. And famed rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd just lost that rare inspiration.

In the late 60′s, Forby Leonard Skinner was the phys-ed teacher at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, Florida, and took pride in enforcing the school’s policy against boys having long hair. He got three students; Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, and Gary Rossington, suspended for this crime and they named their band after him in revenge.

The band no-one had heard of went on to score four platinum albums and a gold record, and sell out Madison Square Garden. And on March 13 of 2006 they achieved the summit – the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Born in Jacksonville in January 1933, Leonard was a student at the very same school. Then after a spell in the army and graduating from college he returned as a teacher in 1957. But despite the success he clearly helped to create, Leonard never openly shared in the joke.

“I think he kind of ate it up,” his son, also named Leonard, told the Times. “He didn’t like it at first, he had mixed emotions later, but I think he kind of liked it eventually.”

The modest gym teacher with a dislike for untidy hair passed away in his sleep at a Riverside nursing home early yesterday morning, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 77.