Life's a Sport; Death's the Final Whistle

Dr. James Robert Cade was not just a co-inventor of the sports drink Gatorade. He was also a University of Florida professor.

Gatorade has become a boon for UF, generating $150 million in royalties for the university and helping to establish UF as a premier research institution.

His colleagues remember him as a multi-faceted individual committed to furthering education.

Dr. Jim Free, who worked under Cade in the creation of Gatorade, said Tuesday that Cade was first and foremost a kind man who made it his mission to spread knowledge.

"His contributions were so multiple that it's just hard to cover them," Free said. "His main contribution is that he was a very nice, decent, generous person, and that he was dedicated to education. He was a real educator, a real researcher and a real academician and held a real place of honor at the University of Florida because he spent his whole career there teaching and doing his research. The things he's accomplished have been amazing."

Along the way, Cade became somewhat of a legend. He's one of the subjects of Darren Rovell's "First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned The Science of Sweat Into A Cultural Phenomenon." And in his later years even found his way onto the boob tube. But way back in 1966, the Florida Times-Union summarized the Gatorade kick with this headline: "One Lil' Swig of That Kickapoo Juice and Biff, Bam, Sock — It’s Gators, 8-2."

Cade had an insatiable curiosity that couldn't be quenched by any sports drink.

[Tampa Bays 10]