Our theme for the month of October is “This Day in History.”
It’s the honor of my life to share a reflection on this, the 58th anniversary of the invention of the much-beloved, much-bechugged sports beverage, Gatorade.
I think many of us will be familiar with a basic version of its origin: it’s called Gatorade because it was invented to aid the University of Florida Football Gators as they toiled towards victory under the hot, hot Floridian sun.
Further research into the genesis of this world-class electrolyte delivery system provides some delightful details. According to a rickety old web article I found, the journey began when an assistant coach for the team, Dewayne Douglas, asked a kidney disease specialist about weight loss during exercise—a phenomenon he had observed in his players and in his own NFL career. Douglas told the kidneyman that he lost as much as eighteen pounds during a game. (EIGHTEEN??)
The rest of the article explains a bit more about the subsequent scientific journey as they discovered the connections between dehydration and sweat and the benefits of resupplying the body with what it loses when it sweats. But my favorite other tidbit from the article came from its description of the early phases of research. Robert Cade, the kidneyman-in-chief, is quoted giving Florida head coach Ray Graves this high praise: “One of the reasons I have respect for Coach Graves was that when we explained to him what we had found he professed no ability to really understand what we were saying, but he accepted it.” What an absolute champ.
Cade was allowed to test the urine of the freshmen on the team, although “they would not consent to having practice stopped so we could measure their body temperatures rectally.” Fair enough.
Eventually the beverage was adopted by the rest of the team, saving players from heat stroke and boosting their end-of-game performance. This culminated in the 1966 Florida Times-Union headline: “One Lil’ Swig of That Kickapoo Juice and Biff, Bam, Sock—It’s Gators, 8-2.” And the rest is history. Now the brand is global, endorsing star athletes, selling billions of units, and being cradled by hungover college students in 8am lectures at universities near and far.
I come from a very sports-oriented family. From the earliest days of my tiny, dim memory, we have been hoopin’ and kickin’ and tossin’ and hurlin’. We have purchased and enjoyed a great deal of Gatorade over the years.
It occurs to me now that a few of those activities are euphemisms for vomiting, which, funnily enough, was one of the other main contexts in which I had Gatorade as a kid. When we had the flu Mom would fix up a feast of crushed ice and Gatorade. Simply divine.
Gatorade played a pivotal role in our household. I took a bottle with me to school every single day for all of high school—but not to drink Gatorade, no no no. Our family just reused the bottles for water. My water bottle for school, lunch, basketball practice, you name it, was always just an empty Gatorade bottle. (To be fair, those things are sturdy.)
This was before luxury water bottle culture was really a thing. There were no Stanleys or Nalgenes or Hydro Flasks. You could drink from whatever random thing you had and it was fine. Or maybe those things did exist and I just wasn’t paying attention. I suppose there were a few years when the Camelbak bottles with the rubber bit that got chewed to oblivion were pretty big. But Gatorade bottles were practically free! Reduce, reuse, recycle and all that.
I wonder what Coach Douglas would think if he could see the Gatorade dynasty now—the incredible wealth and success that came from all that pee, sweat, and tears. Did he know, when he asked someone who knew a lot about kidneys that first, most important question, all that would follow?
Douglas, did you know that this creation
Would one day replace water?
Douglas, did you know that this creation
Would hydrate Michael Jordan?
Did you know that this creation
Now comes in Passion Fruit?
This beverage you inspired, now gives you protein too
Douglas, did you know?
Christina Ribbens (’19) graduated with a major in history and minors in studio art and data science. After working in campus ministry for a few years, she’s getting her master’s in public humanities at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She has a benevolent dependency on tea, is always down for a game of pick-up basketball, and would love to have you over for pancakes sometime.
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Okay this was already great and then I got to the song and I died
Hahaha I was just giggling alone in my room, so glad to hear it
So I would love to see the genesis of how you come up with these witty, well-written blogs. It appears so fresh and uncalculated, yet you did some serious research here! So entertaintional.
(That is a combo of entertaining, educational and maybe sensational)
What Josh said. Now I’ll have that stuck in my head for weeks, possibly clear through December.
ahhahahahahahahhah I’m not surprised at all that this is hilarious, personal, and excellent
So fun! Glad I got to re-discover through our end of year recap. Well done!