<P> In the fall of 1966, Neal Doughty entered the electrical engineering program at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois, as a junior . On his first night, he met fellow student Alan Gratzer . They held an impromptu jam session in the basement of their Illinois Street Residence Hall dormitory and soon started a rock band . Gratzer had been a drummer since high school, and was playing in a local group on the weekends, while Doughty had learned some Beatles songs on his parents' piano . </P> <P> Doughty began to follow Gratzer's band, eventually sitting in on a song or two . The keyboard player was the leader, but several other band members were unhappy with the situation . On the last day of the university's spring semester, guitarist Joe Matt called the band's leader and told him that he, drummer Gratzer, and bassist Mike Blair had decided to leave the band to start a new one with Doughty . </P> <P> They made a list of songs to learn over the summer break, and Doughty landed a summer job to buy his first keyboard . On his Farfisa organ, he learned "Light My Fire" by The Doors . The members returned to school in the fall of 1967, and had their first rehearsal before classes started . They named the band REO Speedwagon, from the REO Speed Wagon, a flatbed truck Doughty had studied in transportation history, and the initials are those of its founder Ransom E. Olds . Rather than pronouncing REO as a single word as the motor company did, they chose to spell out the name with the individual letters each pronounced ("R-E-O"). An ad in the school newspaper produced their first job, a fraternity party that turned into a food fight . They continued to perform cover songs in campus bars, fraternity parties, and university events . The first lineup consisted of Doughty on keyboards, Gratzer on drums and vocals, Joe Matt on guitar and vocals, Mike Blair on bass and vocals . </P> <P> In early 1968, Terry Luttrell became lead singer, and Bob Crownover joined as the guitar player, replacing Matt . When Mike Blair left the band in the summer of 1968, Gregg Philbin replaced Blair, Marty Shepard played trumpet and Joe McCabe played sax until McCabe moved to Southern Illinois University . Crownover played guitar for the group until the summer of 1969 when Bill Fiorio replaced him . Fiorio then departed in late 1969, eventually assuming the name Duke Tumatoe, and went on to form the All Star Frogs . Steve Scorfina (who would go on to found progressive rock / album - oriented rock band Pavlov's Dog) came aboard for over a year, composing with the band and performing live, before being replaced by Gary Richrath in late 1970 . </P>

Where did the band reo speedwagon get its name