On this day in 1965, a research team led by Dr. Robert Cade began testing the first-ever sports drink—what would become Gatorade, but then charmingly titled Cade’s Cola—on University of Florida football players.
Researchers knew that athletes were losing up to 10 pounds in sweat during practice. The lost carbohydrates and electrolytes spent had to be replaced for health and performance reasons. The goal was to concoct a drink that would keep the varsity team hydrated in the state’s hot, humid climate, protecting the players’ health and improving their stamina when playing in the heat.
The energy boost from the drink helped the Gators dominate other teams in the second half, remaining hydrated while their opponents grew tired. It broke out into the mainstream after the Gators attributed their win at the 1967 Orange Bowl in part to the drink’s benefits.
The late Cade said he was most proud of Gatorade’s use in hospitals to aid in post-op recovery and pediatricians’ offices and health clinics in health-insecure communities across the globe.
“It’s the feeling that I’ve made the world a better place to live,” he told the Orlando Sentinel in 2006, a year before his death.
To read more on Gatorade, check out these stories from the University of Florida and History Cooperative. If you’re more interested in Cade himself, read this 2007 obituary from The Los Angeles Times.
