Gary Rossington ✝

Rossington\'s mother recalled that he had a strong childhood interest in baseball and aspired as a child to one day play for the New York Yankees. Rossington recalled that he was a "good ball player" but upon hearing The Rolling Stones in his early teens he became interested in music and ultimately gave up on his baseball aspirations.\n', ' It was Rossington\'s love of baseball that indirectly led to the formation of Lynyrd Skynyrd in the summer of 1964. He, Ronnie Van Zant, and Bob Burns became acquainted while playing on rival Jacksonville baseball teams and the trio decided to jam together one afternoon after Burns was injured by a ball hit by Van Zant. They set up their equipment in the carport of Burns\' parents house and played The Rolling Stones\' then-current hit "Time Is on My Side". Liking what they heard, they immediately decided to form a band. Naming themselves The Noble Five (with the additions of guitarist Allen Collins and bassist Larry Junstrom) they would later change the name of the band to The One Percent before eventually settling on the name Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1969.\n', ' Rossington grew up in a single parent household and says that early in their relationship, it was Van Zant who become somewhat of a father figure to him. He credits Van Zant, who was three years his senior, with teaching him and his fellow bandmates how to drive a car, as well as introducing them to "all that stuff you learn when you\'re 14, 15, 16".\n', '