Gatorade

My Kids LOVE Gatorade and ask for it all the time. I started wondering why it was such a favorite of theirs. Was it the name GATORade? What an odd name.

Then today a coworker brought up gatorade and I remarked that it has an odd name. He mentioned that it was originally formulated for the University of Florida, for their football team.

Wow, interesting. But is it true? So I decided to research it. Thought this was pretty cool info.

September 1965: Four doctors at the University of Florida seize on a formula to solve a serious problem for the school’s football team, the Gators: dehydration.

October 2, 1965: The drink gets a second test in 100 degree heat- the Gators win, 14-7.

November 1965: Jim Free comes up with the perfect name for the lemonade the Gators drink (it was Cade's Cola).

July 1, 1968: Sports Illustrated features a six-and-half page story singing Gatorade’s praises, backed with statistics. Before long, Arthur Ashe and Elvis Presley are among the sports drink’s high-profile loyal guzzlers..

October 25, 1968: The Associated Press discloses the details of lapses in regulation of research that had allowed Gatorade to slip through the hands of the University of Florida, 4 years later the University of Florida receives a 20 percent share of Gatorade’s royalties.

1983: Quaker Oats acquires Stokely Van-Camp for $220 million. After selling off everything but Pork & Beans and Gatorade, the net price of the acquisition is $95 million.

1985: The crowd-pleasing tradition of the Gatorade bath is born, when New York Giants nose guard Jim Burt, in an act of revenge, pours a cooler full of the drink on his coach, Bill Parcells.

2001: Quaker merges with PepsiCo and 4 years later in 2005 Gatorade celebrates the 40th anniversary of its invention. Now available in more than 30 flavors, including the original lemon-lime, the world’s leading sports drink is sold in more over 50 countries, with gross retail sales surpassing $3 billion in the United States alone.