Leonard Skinner
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Leonard Skinner is a former high school gym coach and the inspiration for the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd's band name.
The name Lynyrd Skynyrd was inspired as a mocking tribute to Skinner, who was guitarist Gary Rossington's and drummer Bob Burns' gym coach at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, Florida. Skinner would strictly enforce the school's dress code, which did not allow boys to have long hair touching the collar or sideburns below the ears. After being punished several times, the bandmates played a show, as their current band name One Percent, but vocalist Ronnie Van Zant jokingly announced from the stage that they were now called Leonard Skinner. The name stuck, soon becoming Lynard Skynard, and finally Lynyrd Skynyrd.
After coaching high school, Skinner worked in the real estate business. He is still referred to by friends and family as "Coach Skinner".
[edit] Trivia
Coincidentially Leonard Skinner is also the name of a fictitious camper in the Allan Sherman song Camp Grenada introduced with the line "You remember Leonard Skinner... he got ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner."
