Leonard Skinner, the basketball coach and gym teacher who inspired the name of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died Monday in Florida. ( R.I.P Coach Skinner ) He was 77. He 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. The band became popular in the mid-1970s, with hits such as "Sweet Home Alabama", "Free Bird" and "Tuesday's Gone." Three of the band members, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, were killed in a 1977 plane crash. The band regrouped and continues to perform today.
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