Gatorade: the football drink that tasted like toilet cleaner

In 1965, the University of Florida Gators football team was struggling in the brutal heat and humidity of the Deep South. Assistant coach Dewayne Douglas approached Dr. Robert Cade, a kidney specialist at the university's College of Medicine, with a puzzling observation: players were not urinating during or after practice. Cade's research revealed that players were losing up to 18 pounds in a single three-hour game, 90 to 95 percent of it water. Plasma volume dropped by seven percent, blood volume by five percent, and critical electrolytes were being excreted through sweat.

Cade assembled a team of researchers — Dana Shires, Harry James Free, and Alejandro de Quesada — to develop a rehydration solution. They mixed water, sodium, sugar, potassium, phosphate, and cyclamate in a laboratory. The first batch cost $43 to produce. When lineman Larry Gagner tasted it, he spat it out and compared it to bodily waste. Researcher Dana Shires recalled it 'tasted like toilet bowl cleaner.' Cade's wife suggested adding lemon juice, which improved the flavour enough to make it drinkable.

The drink received its first real test in the 1965 game against LSU in 102-degree heat. The LSU Tigers faded in the second half while the Gators did not. Coach Ray Graves was convinced. The Gators went on to a 9-2 season in 1966 and won the 1967 Orange Bowl. After the game, Georgia Tech coach Bobby Dodd told reporters: 'We didn't have Gatorade; that made the difference.' The drink gained national attention overnight.

Cade patented the formula and offered the rights to the University of Florida for backing. The university declined. Cade obtained bank financing and began producing the drink himself, contracting with Stokely-Van Camp to manufacture and distribute it. When royalties reached $200,000, the university sued Cade for a share. The 1972 settlement gave the university 20 percent of royalties — generating over $150 million for the school. Quaker Oats bought Gatorade in 1983 for $220 million; PepsiCo acquired it in 2001 for $13 billion. As of 2025, it holds 61.6 percent of the U.S. sports drink market.