Quote :

"Leonard Skinner, 77, a high school physical education teacher who was the improbable namesake of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died yesterday. In the late 1960s, Mr. Skinner was the by-the-books gym teacher at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, where he had a reputation as a stickler for personal appearance. One day, Mr. Skinner sent a smart-aleck student named Ronnie Van Zant to the principal's office because his hair was touching his collar -- a flagrant violation of the school's dress code."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postmortem/2010/09/leonard-skinner-namesake-of-ly.html

9/21/2010 12:24:21 PM

good night sweet prince

9/21/2010 12:27:03 PM

He's as free as a bird now.

9/21/2010 12:27:37 PM

Quote :

"After graduating from Robert E. Lee High School in 1951, Mr. Skinner attended Florida State University, where he was a fraternity brother of Burt Reynolds and a 1957 physical education graduate. . . . He owned and operated a bar called The Still in Jacksonville, to which he later added his name after the band's surge in popularity. He sold it in the mid-1980s. It is now a topless bar. . . . Mr. Skinner expressed remorse about the death of onetime troublemaker Van Zant. "They were good, talented, hardworking boys," Mr. Skinner said in 1977. "They worked hard, lived hard, and boozed hard." Besides his daughter, of Jacksonville, survivors include his wife of 54 years, Rosemary Jones Skinner of Jacksonville; a son, Leonard S. Skinner of Jacksonville; and two grandsons. "

9/21/2010 12:28:26 PM

Dude was cool by me.

9/21/2010 12:50:51 PM

I knew they were from Jax, but I never realized that is where Lynyrd Skynyrd got their name. My high school used to play Lee High in sports. They pretty much sucked at everything, but so did we.

9/21/2010 12:55:27 PM

Quote :

"He's as free as a bird now."

ROFL

9/21/2010 1:08:01 PM

haha thats awesome

RIP

Quote :

"One day, Mr. Skinner sent a smart-aleck student named Ronnie Van Zant to the principal's office because his hair was touching his collar -- a flagrant violation of the school's dress code.""

hell yea, WAR Mr. Skinner

Hank Hill would be proud

9/21/2010 1:24:53 PM

Quote :

"My high school used to play Lee High in sports."

so did mine...

tho...

http://staunton.k12.va.us/lee/site/default.asp

9/21/2010 1:34:52 PM

STAUNTON

incorrectly pronounced like Stanton

9/21/2010 1:37:56 PM

Fun fact, Lee High School was also the alma mater of David Wooderson and Randall "Pink" Floyd.

9/21/2010 2:01:04 PM

Fun fact, nobody gives a shit

9/21/2010 2:14:30 PM

he outlived almost all of the band members

9/21/2010 2:43:51 PM

Did anyone notice that they misspelled Lynyrd Skynyrd in the article?

9/21/2010 5:22:37 PM

nah not really

how serious can you take some 80s hair band now 30 years later

9/21/2010 5:23:35 PM

hell yeah ROBERT E LEE highschool

9/21/2010 5:24:31 PM

Which 80's hair band are we talking about?

9/21/2010 8:23:46 PM