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Outdoor Products
by Terah Shelton on November 29, 2007
I love gatorade, especially for long hikes. So, when I learned (albeit, late) the inventor of the popular I was taken aback.
Dr. Robert Cade died on Tuesday at the age of 80. According to the University of Florida (where he invented the multi-million sports drink), announced he died from kidney failure. Dr. Cade and other researchers created the drink to help athletes replace carbohydrates and electrolytes lost while playing. Little did he (or anyone else) know that Gatorade would be adored by athletes and non-athletes for years to come.
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."
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