Rick Scott to Present 'Great Floridian' Award to Inventor of Gatorade

Gov. Rick Scott will be presenting the "Great Floridian" award to Dr. Robert Cade, famous Florida Gator and inventor of Gatorade, at the Cade Museum in Gainesville Thursday morning.

Cade was an American physician, university professor, research scientist and inventor. He was involved in many areas of medical research throughout his life, but is probably best known for being the leader of the team that created the popular sports beverage, Gatorade.

In 1965, Cade was approached by an assistant coach for the Florida Gators football team about the extreme dehydration Gator athletes faced on the field due to the heat and high temperatures in Florida. Cade and his research team got to work on perfecting a formula to keep the players hydrated, and "Cade's Ade" was first tested at the Gators' first Orange Bowl title over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in 1967. The Gators came from behind to defeat the Yellow Jackets, and Georgia Tech coach Bobby Dodd told reporters that his team didn't have Gatorade, which made the difference.

The rest, as they say, is history. Gatorade is now owned by PepsiCo and is an incredibly popular sports beverage. As of 2007, over 7 billion bottles of Gatorade were being sold annually in the United States.

Cade passed away in 2007.