Gatorade Inventor Never Thought His Drink Would Be So Popular
The University of Florida is mourning today, after the death yesterday of Dr. J. Robert Cade, the man who in 1965 invented Gatorade, which has subsequently brought the university lots and lots of money. And it all began with a rather, um, interesting question posed in infantile terms:
Now sold in 80 countries in dozens of flavors, Gatorade was born thanks to a question from former Gators Coach Dwayne Douglas, Cade said in a 2005 interview with The Associated Press.Thankfully, through the addition of sugar and some other flavors, they made it taste better. (There's still a blue one out on the market that at least looks like toilet bowl cleaner, although it actually tastes pretty good. If you can get past the color.) They tested on the poor freshmen, because the coach didn't want to mess with the varsity squad. Cade apparently never thought it would become so popular; he assumed sports teams would use it, but not many others. We're sure he never dreamed up what our swimming friends in high school did with it, namely mix lemon-lime Gatorade with vodka. Yes, it was tasty. Dr. Cade's concoction (when not mixed with alcoholic substances) has helped us avoid dehydration through swim meets, 4:45 a.m. practices, long open-water swims, and a very painful half-marathon. For this, we thank him.He asked, "Doctor, why don't football players wee-wee after a game?"
"That question changed our lives," Cade said.
Cade's researchers determined a football player could lose as much as 18 pounds - 90 to 95 percent of it water - during the three hours it takes to play a game. Players sweated away sodium and chloride and lost plasma volume and blood volume.
Using their research, and about $43 in supplies, they concocted a brew for players to drink while playing football. The first batch was not exactly a hit.
"It sort of tasted like toilet bowl cleaner," said Dana Shires, one of the researchers.
"I guzzled it and I vomited," Cade said.
UF doc who invented Gatorade dies at 80 [Miami Herald]
Photo: Gainesville Sun
