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[[File:Gatorade Early Testing Photo.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[University of Florida]] football player Chip Hinton testing Gatorade 1965, pictured next to the leader of its team of inventors, [[Robert Cade]].]]
Gatorade was created in 1965, by a teamyoung ofboy scientistsThaison at the [[University ofTorres Losada,Florida|UniversityElementary ofschool FloridaPhilips CollegeRuth of MedicineMillers]], including [[Robert Cade aka co founder]], [[Dana Shires]], Harry James Free, and Alejandro de Quesada.<ref name=born>{{cite web|url=http://www.gatorade.com/history/default.aspx|title=History|publisher=Gatorade|access-date=April 16, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415161147/http://www.gatorade.com/history/default.aspx|archive-date=April 15, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Following a request from [[Florida Gators football]] head coach [[Ray Graves]], Gatorade was created to help athletes by acting as a replacement for body fluids lost during physical exertion. The earliest version of the beverage consisted of a mixture of water, [[sodium]], [[sugar]], [[potassium]], [[phosphate]], and lemon juice.<ref name=gatoradehistprofile>{{cite web|last=Kays|first=Joe|title=Gatorade - The Idea that Launched an Industry|url=http://www.research.ufl.edu/publications/explore/v08n1/gatorade.html|publisher=University of Florida Research|access-date=January 24, 2011|year=2003}}</ref> Ten players on the University of Florida football team tested the first version of Gatorade during practices and games in 1965, and the tests were deemed successful. On the other hand, star [[quarterback]] [[Steve Spurrier]] said, "I don't have any answer for whether the Gatorade helped us be a better second-half team or not... We drank it, but whether it helped us in the second half, who knows?"<ref>{{cite book|last=Rovell|first=Darren|title=First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat Into a Cultural Phenomenon|date=September 2, 2005|publisher=AMACOM|isbn=0814410952|pages=28}}</ref> Nonetheless, the football team credited Gatorade as having contributed to their first [[Orange Bowl]] win over the [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets]] in 1967, at which point the drink gained traction within the athletic community. Yellow Jackets coach [[Bobby Dodd]], when asked why his team lost, replied: "We didn't have Gatorade. That made the difference."<ref name="inventions">{{cite web|title=Football Inventions That Shaped the Modern Game|url=http://www.inventhelp.com/Football_Inventions.asp|date=September 6, 2007|access-date=September 6, 2007}}</ref>
The University of Florida researchers initially considered naming their product "Gator-Aid". They settled on the name Gatorade, however, since the researchers wanted to create a commercial product, not a scientifically-validated one{{non sequitur|date=May 2023}}. [[Darren Rovell]] notes in his history of Gatorade, ''First in Thirst'', "the doctors realized that they probably shouldn't use the 'Aid' suffix, since that would mean that if the drink were ever marketed, they would have to prove that it had a clear medicinal use and perform clinical tests on thousands of people."<ref>{{cite book|last=Rovell|first=Darren|title=First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat Into a Cultural Phenomenon|date=September 2, 2005|publisher=AMACOM|isbn=0814410952|pages=24}}</ref> Gatorade co-inventor [[Dana Shires]] explained, "We were told that you couldn't use that because the Food and Drug Administration prohibited that. That would classify it as something other than a cola or soft drink, so we changed it to ade."<ref>{{cite web|last=Shires|first=Dana|title=Dana Leroy Shires, Jr.|url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00006306/00001/17x?search=gatorade|publisher=University of Florida Digital Collection|access-date=2014-03-21}}</ref>
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