Inventor of Gatorade, dies at 80

Principessa

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Inventor of Gatorade, dies at 80
Dr. Robert Cade sought to aid Florida football team

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published on: 11/27/07

Jacksonville, Fla. — Dr. Robert Cade, who invented Gatorade and sparked the multimillion dollar sports drink industry, died Tuesday of kidney failure. He was 80.

His death was announced by the University of Florida, where he and other researchers created Gatorade in 1965 to help the school's football players replace carbohydrates and electrolytes lost through sweat while playing in swamp-like heat.

A question from former Gator Coach Dwayne Douglas sparked their research, Cade said in a 2005 interview with The Associated Press. 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 up to 18 pounds during the three hours it takes to play a game. They also determined 90 to 95 percent of the weight loss was water. Plasma volume decreased by 7 percent and blood volume about 5 percent. Sodium and chloride were excreted in the sweat.

Using their research, and about $43 in supplies, they concocted a brew for players to drink while playing football.

"It sort of tasted like toilet bowl cleaner," said Dana Shires, one of the researchers who sampled the first batch.

"I guzzled it and I vomited," Cade said.

The researchers added some sugar and some lemon juice to improve the taste. It was first tested on freshmen because Coach Ray Graves didn't want to hurt the varsity team. Eventually, however, the use of the sports beverage spread to the Gators, who enjoyed a winning record and were known as a "second-half team" by outlasting opponents.

After the Gators beat Georgia Tech 27-12 in the Orange Park, Tech coach Bobby Dodd told reporters his team lost because, "We didn't have Gatorade ... that made the difference."

Gatorade sparked a $5.5 billion a year sports drink market and held 80 percent of the market in 2005, according to Beverage Digest. Current figures were not immediately available.

Cade said he was proud that Gatorade was based on research into what the body loses in exercise.

"The other sports drinks were created by marketing companies," he said.
Since its introduction, Cade said the formula changed very little. Sugar has replaced an artificial sweetener.

Instead of the original four flavors, there are now more than 30 available in the United States and more than 50 flavors available internationally. Gatorade is now sold in 80 countries. Since 1973, UF has received more than $110 million in royalties from Gatorade.

Stokely-Van Camp initially obtained the licensing rights for Gatorade and began marketing it as the "beverage of champions."

Cade said Stokely-Van Camp hated the name "Gatorade," believing it would was too parochial, but stuck with it after tests showed consumers liked the name.

The researcher thought the use of Gatorade would be limited to sports teams and never dreamed it would be purchased by regular consumers. Gatorade is now owned by PepsiCo Inc.

"I never thought about the commercial market," Cade said. "The financial success of this stuff really surprised us."

Cade worked until he was 76, retiring in November 2004 from the university, where he taught medicine, saw patients and conducted research.

"It's harder to get up every morning," he said in a 2003 interview.

In addition to medicine, Cade's other passions are Studebaker automobiles, the violin and his church.

Cade has restored more than 50 Studebakers, often entering them in restoration contests.

An accomplished violinist, he has played with the University of Florida orchestra and still plays at church and home.

In 1991, Cade was awarded the Lutheran Church's highest honor, the Wittenburg Award for his service to the church and community.

Born James Robert Cade in San Antonio on Sept. 26, 1927, Cade, a Navy veteran, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. He performed his internship at St. Louis City Hospital in Missouri and his residency at Parkland Medical Hospital in Dallas.

He served fellowships at Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and Cornell University Medical College in New York.

In 1961, Cade was appointed an assistant professor in internal medicine at UF.
His research included kidney disease, hypertension, exercise physiology, autism and schizophrenia.

Cade and his wife, Mary, had six children, Michael, Martha, Celia, Stephen, Emily and Phoebe.
 

bottombuddy

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[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica] if it wasn't for inventors the world would surely be a poorer place.......................i am proud to be a scotsman but haven't invented anything......the part below is titled "wha's like us......hope you enjoy!!
[/FONT]​
[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]
Damn Few And They're A' Died!

The average Englishman in the home he calls his castle
slips into his national costume, a shabby raincoat, patented
by Chemist Charles MacIntosh from Glasgow, Scotland.

En-route to his office he strides along the English lane,
surfaced by John Macadam of Ayr, Scotland.

He drives an English car fitted with tyres invented by
John Boyd Dunlop, Veterinary Surgeon of
Dreghorn, Scotland.

At the office he receives the mail bearing adhesive
stamps invented by John Chalmers, Bookseller and
Printer of Dundee, Scotland.

During the day he uses the telephone invented by
Alexander Graham Bell, born in Edinburgh, Scotland.

At home in the evening his daughter pedals her bicycle
invented by Kirkpatrick Macmillan, Blacksmith of
Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, Scotland.

He watches the news on television, an invention of John
Logie Baird
of Helensburgh, Scotland, and hears an
item about the U.S. Navy founded by John
Paul Jones of Kirkbean, Scotland.

Nowhere can an Englishman turn to escape the ingenuity of the Scots.

He has by now been reminded too much of Scotland and
in desperation he picks up the Bible, only to find that
the first man mentioned in the good book is a Scot,
King James VI, who authorised its translation.

He could take to drink but the Scots make the best in the world.

He could take a rifle and end it all, but the breech-loading
rifle was invented by Captain Patrick Ferguson of
Pitfours, Scotland.

If he escaped death, he could find himself on an operating
table injected with penicillin, discovered by Sir Alexander
Fleming
of Darvel, Scotland, and given chloroform, an
anesthetic discovered by Sir James Young Simpson,
Obstetrician and Gynecologist of Bathgate, Scotland.

Out of the anesthetic he would find no comfort in learning
that he was as safe as the Bank of England founded by
William Paterson of Dumfries, Scotland.

Perhaps his only remaining hope would be to get a transfusion
of guid Scottish blood which would entitle him tae ask
"Wha's like us? damm few an' there a' deed"
[/FONT]​
 

B_Italian1

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That's the extra sodium and electrolytes. Orange Gatorade with vodka makes a weird tasting screwdriver. It does prevent waking up dehydrated though. :tongue:

Yeah. It's tastes like salt water. Originally they just had the green one then they came out with other flavors that were kind of strange. It's better for you than a sugary drink when you're dehydrated. I can't imagine a Gatorade screwdriver. :stooges:
 

juice

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I drink gatorade all the time.

I lose a LOT of water when I play (heavy sweater, hot rinks) so I usually drink about a bottle a game and then usually one maybe 2 after. Replenishes better than water. Then I usually drink a bottle of chocolate milk.

Fiancee drinks only RED gatorade when she plays hockey, blue when she plays ball.

I have had heatstroke a few times from drinking water and not replenishing my salts so I have to be careful.