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.

James Robert Cade
(September 26, 1927 – November 27, 2007)

On October 2, 1965, a team of scientists invented Gatorade, a
sports drink to quench thirst, in a University of Florida lab. The
name "Gatorade" is derived from the nickname of the university’s
sports teams. Eventually, the drink becomes a phenomenon and
makes its inventors wealthy.

Early in the summer of 1965, University of Florida assistant football coach Dewayne Douglas met a group of scientists on campus to determine why many of Florida’s players were so negatively
affected by heat. To replace bodily fluids lost during physical
exertion, Dr. James Robert Cade and his team of researchers
created the sports drink.