Wearing a ruby-red beret and neon-yellow wraparound sunglasses, Dr. Robert Cade sat quietly in the shadow of his greatest achievement.
The 80-year-old Gatorade inventor was one of the prominent guests at a ceremony to celebrate UF's first historical marker.
The first marker, honoring the UF-created sports drink, was unveiled outside the O'Connell Center on Friday afternoon.
In 1965, Cade and three other UF researchers invented Gatorade to give the UF football team extra energy during exercise.
Cade, whose favorite Gatorade flavor is orange, called Gatorade his life's greatest achievement.
About 75 people attended the unveiling of the marker. UF's Alumni Association paid for the plaque, which cost almost ,1,500.
"Gatorade is truly the product of champions," said Terri Parnell, president of the association.
The Gatorade commemoration marked the first in a series of historical plaques that will be added to UF's campus. The next two will honor UF's Everglades research and the UF Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature.
Dr. James Free, another Gatorade researcher, said Gatorade is a nearly ,400 billion product.
He said perfecting the drink's flavor was a big challenge in its invention, and adding lemon to the mixture was the key.
Free said he came up with the product's catchy name, but the big question was its spelling-Gatorade or Gatoraid?
In the end, the group chose the former to highlight the drink's comparable taste to lemonade, he said.
Win Phillips, UF's vice president for research, said he's proud to be a part of the institution that created the world's most-recognized sports drink.
"Trojanade didn't happen. Buckeye juice didn't happen," Phillips said. "Gatorade happened."
