You’ve probably heard of the sports drink Gatorade, because it was invented in the mid-1960s. But do you know how it got the name Gatorade? If so, you probably also have heard the surprising tale of its original formulation: over 40 years ago, in the mid-sixties, Ray Graves, the coach of the University of Florida Gators football team, was frustrated with how his players performed during Florida’s hot summers. So he asked the team’s doctor for assistance. The doctor, a team of researchers and Graves collaborated, and the result was a unique mix of water, lemon juice, sugar, sodium, potassium and phosphate, which helped replenish electrolytes lost while sweating. The resulting drink was called Gatorade, in honor of the UF Gators.

In the States, Gatorade drink is now the recognized sports drink of the NFL, the NBA, Major League Baseball, the Women’s National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, the U.S. Soccer Federation, Major League Soccer, the Association of Volleyball Professionals and many other collegiate and professional organizations. In the NFL, Gatorade is used in mass quantities for “Gatorade showers,” during which the winning team’s coach is showered with the contents of a large cooler of Gatorade by his team. This tradition started when Harry Carson and Jim Burt of the New York Giants poured it over head coach Bill Parcells’ noggin during the 1985 football season. The tradition became popular over the years and now all head coaches get the shower after winning a game.

This popularity has given rise to wholesale Gatorade being available, so sports teams can have the sizable quantities they need and not have to pay the retail price. Most individual sports enthusiasts don’t buy Gatorade powder like that, but there are a surprising number of smaller sports groups and organizations that do. They buy is in large quantities, just like the “big boys,” which is a real money saver to Little League teams, nonprofit organizations, cities and municipalities that run marathons, and other smaller groups. Interestingly, the U.S. military also purchases it in large quantities. It’s nice to know that our men and women in uniform are being well taken care of, and that they’re well-hydrated!