September 9, 1965: The Debut of Gatorade

Dr. Robert Cade

September 9, 1965: Gatorade is first given to football players at the University of Florida. The first player to try it was senior guard Larry Gagner. He takes one sip, and says, "This stuff tastes like piss!"

It was developed by a team at the University, led by Dr. Robert Cade, on the request of assistant coach Dewayne Douglas, a former offensive tackle at Florida who had played for the New York Giants in 1953. Practicing in the heat and humidity of Florida Summer led to extreme dehydration.

Cade's research team discovered that football players were losing up to 18 pounds during the 3 hours of a college football game, and that 90 to 95 percent of that loss was water. A player's plasma volume could decrease as much as 7 percent and blood volume by 5 percent, and sodium and chloride were excreted in the sweat.

So Cade's team produced a drink to replenish the carbohydrates that they burned, and the combination of water and electrolytes that they lost in sweat during vigorous sports activities. It was a mixture of water, salt, sodium citrate, fructose and monopotassium phosphate. In other words, Gagner wasn't far off: The players were basically drinking sweat. Cade's wife, Mary, offered a suggestion: Add lemon juice and cyclamate, an artificial sweetener.

Cade and his team (and his wife) must have done something right: In 1965, coached by Ray Graves, and quarterbacked by Steve Spurrier, Florida went 7-4, and, with Number 1 Alabama choosing the Orange Bowl, went to the Sugar Bowl, where they lost to Missouri. They ended the season ranked Number 12.

In 1966, they went 9-2, and beat Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl. They were ranked Number 11, and Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy. Tech coach Bobby Dodd said the reason Florida beat his team was, "We didn't have Gatorade. That made the difference." That publicized the stuff nationwide, and a legend was born.

The Stokely-Van Camp company acquired the rights to produce and market the Gatorade brand. The company was purchased by Quaker Oats in 1983, and PepsiCo in 2001. Eventually, multiple flavors would be developed, sold by superstar athletes such as Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, Sidney Crosby and Peyton Manning -- and one particularly notably non-athlete, golfer Tiger Woods.

Dewayne Douglas died in 2000. Robert Cade died in 2007. Ray Graves died in 2015. Mary Cade died in 2021. As of September 9, 2022, Larry Gagner and Steve Spurrier are still alive.

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September 9, 1965 was a Thursday. Future basketball star Dan Majerle was born. Hurricane Betsy hit the Gulf of Mexico region, including Florida, killing 81 people, although it's not clear whether it had any effect on the UF campus in Gainesville, other than heavy rain and high wind.

This was also the day that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was created. I have a separate entry for that event.

There were only 5 major league baseball games that night:

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Sandy Koufax pitched his 4th career no-hitter, and it was a perfect game. Bob Hendley of the Cubs only allowed 1 hit, and the Dodgers' run scored on a walk, a sacrifice bunt, and an error. I have a separate entry for this event.

* The New York Mets lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Rookie Tug McGraw, not yet converted into a reliever, started for the Mets, and allowed 2 runs over 7 innings. The Mets tied the game in the 8th, but Tony Pérez won it with a home run off Gordie Richardson in the bottom of the 9th. Frank Robinson -- as it turned out, in his last month with the Reds -- went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Jim Kaat outpitched Joe Horlen. Harmon Killebrew did not play. The Twins were about to win Minnesota's 1st major league Pennant, the franchise's 1st since 1933, when they were the Washington Senators. But they would lose the World Series to the Dodgers.

* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Athletics, 7-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 4-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Juan Marichal, having returned from his suspension after hitting John Roseboro with his bat on August 22, pitched a 4-hit shutout. Tom Haller hit a home run. Willie Mays went 0-for-3.