First in Thirst

How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat Into a Cultural Phenomenon

Author: Darren Rovell
Pub Date: 2007
Your Price: $24.95
ISBN: 0814472990
Format: Hardcover

• Overview
• Praise for this book
• Introduction
• Press Release
• The Gatorade Rules
• History of Gatorade
• Table of Contents
• Request an Evaluation Copy, INSTRUCTOR ONLY!

Highlights from the History of Gatorade

September 1965: Four doctors at the University of Florida — Robert Cade, Dana Shires, Alex DeQuesada, and Jim Free — seize on a formula to solve a serious problem for the school’s football team, the Gators: dehydration.

October 1, 1965: With the approval of the Gators’ head coach, Ray Graves, the colorless, awful-tasting concoction gets its first real test for effectiveness in the heat of competition, using the freshman squad as guinea pigs.

October 2, 1965: The drink gets a second test on the entire varsity football team, in 100 degree heat against a tough opponent, the LSU Tigers. The Gators win, 14-7.

November 1965: The winning potion gets a name. Cade’s Cola doesn’t quite cut it. Jim Free comes up with the perfect name for the lemonade the Gators drink.

August 1966: Gatorade starts its second season on the Gators’ sideline.

November 30, 1966: The Miami Herald sports section runs an article on “a liquid solution that tastes like mint and works like a miracle,” marking Gatorade’s introduction to the press and the power of publicity.

March 1967: Dana Shires and Kent Bradley, a former colleague, sell executives at Stokely Van-Camp, a food company known for its fruit juices as well as its best-selling Pork & Beans, on the commercial potential of Gatorade.

May 16, 1967: Stokely Van-Camp establishes the Gatorade Trust, ensuring the product’s inventors — Cades, Shires, Free, and DeQuesada — each 17 shares of its fortune. A few days later, the company seals the deal to own the exclusive world rights to manufacture, market, sell, and distribute Gatorade — for $25,000 and a signing bonus of $5,000.

Fall of 1967: After clinching a $25,000-a-year-deal for Gatorade to be called the official sports drink of the NFL, Stokely begins to capitalize on this relationship through the use of bright orange and green coolers and cups with the Gatorade logo on them.

Summer of 1968: Stokely begins rolling out Gatorade in supermarkets.

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 — and paying customers.

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.

July 1971: The University of Florida files suit against the Gatorade Trust and Stokely Van-Camp.

July 1972: 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.

1984: Quaker launches the catchy “Thirst Aid” campaign, reflecting the spirit of Gatorade.

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.

1988: Quaker opens the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI), complete with a research lab, to fend off competitors and back up the claim that Gatorade is the best thirst-quenching product in the world.

December 1990: Quaker is told by the courts to cease using the phrase “Thirst Aid,” due to trademark infringement.

August 8, 1991: Quaker announces their top brand’s new spokesperson, Michael Jordan. The Chicago Bulls star signs a 10-year, $13.5 million endorsement deal.

April 1992: Coca-Cola attempts to invade Gatorade’s turf with a sports drink, POWERAde. Pepsi soon follows with Mountain Dew Sport, later renamed All Sport.

2001: Quaker merges with PepsiCo.

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.

Adapted from FIRST IN THIRST: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat into a Cultural Phenomenon by Darren Rovell (AMACOM; ISBN: 0-8144-7299-0).

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