Leonard Skinner | Rock band's inspiration, 77

Leonard Skinner, 77, the basketball coach and gym teacher who inspired the name of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died Monday at the St. Catherine Laboure Manor in Jacksonville, Fla., his daughter Susie Moore said. He had Alzheimer's disease.

Mr. Skinner 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.

During a 2009 interview, Mr. Skinner said he was always bothered by the way the legend grew to say he was particularly tough on the band members or that he had kicked them out of school, according to the Florida Times-Union, which first reported his death.

"It was against the school rules," Mr. Skinner said then. "I don't particularly like long hair on men, but again, it wasn't my rule."

The band became popular in the mid-1970s, with hits such as "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird." 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.

Mr. Skinner eventually made friends with some of the band members, according to the paper. They performed at a Jacksonville bar the former coach owned.

He later allowed the band to use a photo of his Leonard Skinner Realty sign for the inside of its third album, and he once introduced band members at a Jacksonville concert.

His children said their father was never completely comfortable with being linked to the band but grew to embrace it. "He made a lot of new friends," Moore said. - AP