On October 2, 1965, during a football game between
the University of Florida Gators and the Louisiana
State University Tigers, UF players test a newly
concocted sports drink to help them regain the
essential chemicals their bodies lose from profuse
sweating.

Developed in their own school’s science labs, the
drink is designed to fight dehydration, rebalance
their bodies’ electrolytes and restore blood sugar,
potassium and body salts so they can continue to
perform at a high level through their games.

The Gators go on to win the match, after the heavily
favored Tigers wilt in Florida’s muggy, 102-degree
heat.

The drink, nicknamed "Gatorade," eventually became
a mass-market phenomenon and made its inventors
wealthy.

James Robert Cade (1927 – 2007)

Cade was a physician, university professor,
research scientist and inventor.

On September 28, 1941, the last day of Major League Baseball’s
regular season, the Boston Red Sox’s Ted Williams got six hits
in eight at-bats during a doubleheader in Philadelphia, boosting
his average to .406. He becomes the first player since 1930 to hit
.400. "I guess I’ll be satisfied with that thrill out there today," he
tells the Boston Globe about hitting .400. "… I never wanted
anything harder in my life."

On August 21, 1950, officials of the United States Lawn
Tennis Association accepted Althea Gibson into their
annual championship at Forest Hills, New York, making
her the first African American player to compete in a U.S.
national tennis competition.

Althea Neale Gibson
(August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003

Gibson survived a heart attack in 2003, but died on
September 28 that year from complications following
respiratory and bladder infections. Her body was
interred in the Rosedale Cemetery, Orange, New
Jersey, near her first husband, Will.

Statue of Gibson by Thomas Jay Warren in Newark, New
Jersey, near the courts (in background) on which she ran
clinics for young players in her later years.

On July 6, 1957, Althea Gibson claimed the women’s singles
tennis title at Wimbledon and became the first African
American to win a championship at London’s All England
Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Althea Neale Gibson
(August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003)

Gibson survived a heart attack, but died
shortly after from complications following
respiratory and bladder infections.

Willie Howard Mays Jr. (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024)

Willie Mays was a professional baseball center fielder. Regarded
as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind
only Babe Ruth on most all-time lists, including those of The
Sporting News and ESPN. Mays played in the National League
between 1951 and 1973 for the New York / San Francisco Giants
and New York Mets.