Gary Robert Rossington was born in Jacksonville, Florida on December 4, 1951. Along with schoolmates Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, Larry Jungstrom and drummer Bob Burns he co-founded the Noble Five. There were several earlier names including The One Per Cent and My Backyard before, in defiance of Leonard Skinner, the gym teacher that persecuted them for their long hair, it was changed for a final time, to Lynyrd Skynyrd.
A violent, tyrannical boozer, Van Zant was Skynyrd’s undisputed leader. Indeed the singer once claimed: “I hand-picked all these boys to play for me.” The fatherless Rossington gravitated towards Ronnie in spite of the unpredictable rages.
