Skip navigation
MOST POPULAR RELATED TAGS
  • TOPICS
  • SECTORS
  • COMPANIES
Sports Biz Video Gallery
TV pitchman Billy Mays was found dead in his Florida home on Sunday. CNBC's Darren Rovell has the details.
The athletic company faces an uphill battle after its earnings fall 30%, reports CNBC's Darren Rovell.
darren rovell's sports index
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...

RSS FEED

» Help

Current DateTime: 12:32:10 04 Jul 2009
LinksList Documentid: 30212900

SPORTS BIZ VIDEO GALLERY

» More

Current DateTime: 12:31:34 04 Jul 2009
LinksList Documentid: 30231077
    • TV Pitchman Billy Mays Dead at 50  29 Jun 2009

        TV pitchman Billy Mays was found dead in his Florida home on Sunday. CNBC's Darren Rovell has the details.

    • Nike: Not Doing It  25 Jun 2009

        The athletic company faces an uphill battle after its earnings fall 30%, reports CNBC's Darren Rovell.

    • Likely #1 Draft Pick  25 Jun 2009

        Blake Griffin, the likely number one pick in Thursday's NBA draft, talks to CNBC's Darren Rovell.

    • Kyle Busch  24 Jun 2009

        One of the key selling points of a NASCAR sponsorship is driver access. Kyle Busch spent the day at sponsor M&M, getting a tour of the plant and signing autographs for employees, with CNBC's Darren Rovell.

    • Tony Stewart  24 Jun 2009

        Tony Stewart is a winner both on and off the track. The two-time Sprint Cup Champion also runs a dozen other businesses, including racetracks and a public relations firm, with CNBC's Darren Rovell.

    • Brian France  24 Jun 2009

        The France family has run NASCAR since its inception. Brian France is the third generation of the family to oversee the sport, with CNBC's Darren Rovell.

Sports Biz Blog
Text Size
Nov.28
9:13 AM ET
Wednesday, 28 Nov 2007
Dr. Robert Cade In Memoriam: This Gatorade Is For You

Drs. Cade and Shires

When I heard Dr. Robert Cade, the man widely credited as the inventor of Gatorade, died yesterday at the age of 80, I raised a bottle of Gatorade Fierce Grape in his honor. I've never told this to anyone before, but it was the subject of his possible death that led me to write the book, "First In Thirst: How Gatorade Turned The Science of Sweat Into A Cultural Phenomenon."

It was December 2003 and I heard that Cade was in failing health. Having been obsessed with Gatorade and the intricate story behind it, I wanted to write a book on the subject and knew that I needed Cade. I was luckily able to interview him three times over the next year and his fascinating story can now live on forever.

Robert Cade might have been one of my favorite interview subjects. He was amazingly smart, freely quoting lines from classic plays and talented (he played the violin) and obsessed (with collecting Studebaker cars).

He also loved being part of the story of Gatorade. Once rejected by the University of Florida for the price of $10,000 in 1965, bottles are purchased about 140 per second in the U.S. and the brand--owned by PepsiCo [PEP  Loading...      ()   ] for the last seven years--now grosses more than $5 billion a year.

But it was not easy being Robert Cade. The first 10 years of Gatorade was marked by fighting: first with the brand's first manufacturer Stokely-Van Camp over royalties, then a major battle with the University of Florida over the same subject. He spent the early 90s, fighting with Gatorade over inventing something he once referred to as a better Gatorade.

And there's been a sense that, although he continued to be a professor there through 2004, that the school--which has made some $150 million off the drink--didn't quite give him his due until the last decade. They've since honored him many times from presenting him with a jersey at halftime of a football game to recently erecting a Gatorade historical marker on campus.

I guess the greatest tribute in death is often the number of people that show up to your funeral or, if you are famous, the number of articles written about your life.

Well, he sure put every obituary writer on extra duty yesterday. Once news spread of his death, my BlackBerry--laying on a lounge chair next to me in Aruba--started filling with message after message.

I must end with this. Behind every person who is credited as being the inventor are other people who were just as integral to the invention's success. Without Dr. Dana Shires, Dr. Jim Free and Dr. Alex DeQuesada, I'm pretty confident Gatorade would not be where it is today.

Questions?  Comments? 

© 2009 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Tools:
PrintEmailAdd This share icon
Next Post


Current DateTime: 01:19:05 03 Jul 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29778428

Current DateTime: 01:05:21 03 Jul 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779196

Current DateTime: 02:33:51 03 Jul 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779199

Current DateTime: 01:05:21 03 Jul 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779198
CNBCCNBC
About CNBC  |  Site Map  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Service  |  Video Reprints  |  Advertise  |  Help  |  Contact
Partners: AOL Money  |  BloggingStocks.com
CNBC is a Division of NBC Universal
  Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis

© 2009 CNBC, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
Thomson ReutersThomson Reuters