Next year let’s send little guy to boot camp. After all he will evolve into a teen-rager.

Danno

We arrived at gym that day and noticed on the big chalk board that we did not have to dress out. That was very unusual, as it had to be twenty degrees or snowing for us not have to put those little gray shorts, white tee shirts and sneakers on.

We had around 2,000 students at Lee that year, so with about half of them being male, that meant 1,000 guys had to be slotted into six periods to get their physical education in. We called it gym class, but never saw the gym.

We were told to line up single file on the basketball court. It was one of those courts that had about a half dozen courts side by side. I would imagine there were 150 hearty souls lined up with no idea of what was going on.

The three coaches we had that day, with Coach Skinner having the clipboard, walked the line, and if they pointed at you, then you were to step forward. I was selected as was my best friend. We were all talking about what we were being picked for and if we would get to miss class and that sort of thing.

The ones who were not selected were sent to the bleachers to sit until the bell rung ending the period.

As the coaches came back down the line, the word was starting to get down to our end that we were being sited for having long hair.

Now let me say this, I did not have long hair and I have never had long hair in my life. My dad sent me to get my haircut if it touched the top of my ears. I had to part it, comb it over, and it had to be tapered in the back. Even at sixteen years of age I knew I would be bald. My dad was bald, both of my granddaddies were bald, and even though I had not met him, my-father-in law was bald! So having short hair was a way of life and my ultimate destiny.

So Rick and I were talking about why I had been selected. While Rick had somewhat long hair (would be considered really short today), we both decided that my selection was a mistake.

When Coach Skinner, Coach Fagin, and Coach Barrett got to me, they said, “You can shave them or go home.” I said, “Sir,” and he said, “Shave them or go home. Your sideburns cannot be past the middle of your ear.”

Well, dad had never taken exception to or mentioned that my sideburns were too long for him, so I was surprised that they were too long for what suddenly appeared to be Larry, Moe, and Curly standing in front of me.

However, I knew that in my previous eleven years of school, dad had never sided with me against the school and I did not want to challenge the authority now. So I said I would shave them.

We were in the third period of the day, and I suppose they had looked at 450 boy’s haircuts and sideburns, so when they gave me a razor, I knew it would be dull. It seemed like 10 minutes that I stood there and scraped and scraped getting that sideburn removed. When I was done with the left one he told me, “That’s good enough.” I thought that was strange, but he knew I would shave the other one at home rather than go around with uneven sideburns.

Allen Collins, of the Lynyrd Skynyrd band, was also in the line and they sent him home for long hair. Allen’s dad called and raised sand about it, but did not win. I read a book recently that said Allen did a good job of pinning it and hiding it, but I think he cut it.

I have often wondered if Coach Fagin or Coach Barrett had been toting the clip- board and barking the orders if the band would have been named after one of them, but destiny held a clipboard that day and Leonard Skinner become the coach that rocked the south.