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Student's Sweat Samples Became Part Of History

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 28, 2007

GAINESVILLE - Chip Hinton hadn't been a University of Florida football player long when the little man who looked and sounded like author Truman Capote began collecting Hinton's sweat in plastic gloves during practice.

"There were two perks to being a freshman," Hinton said Tuesday in a telephone interview. "No. 1, we were dispensable. No. 2, we were pretty dumb."

Later, when Hinton looked back on his career in the food industry, he realized there was a third perk to being a Gators freshman in 1965. While helping J. Robert Cade develop a drink that forever changed sports, Hinton found his calling.

Hinton, now 60, went on to earn a doctorate from Florida in nutrition and food technology. The Plant City resident also served as executive director of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association for almost 25 years.

Drink a bottle of Gatorade, and you'll taste Hinton's sweat. Well, you would if Cade hadn't spent so many hours trying to perfect the flavor of his creation.

Hinton was one of a group of Florida freshmen Cade recruited to help him design a drink that would replace what the body loses from sweat. To do that, he collected their sweat and their blood.

Every few days, Hinton and his fellow freshmen would visit Cade, who drew their blood and, later, asked them to sample the drink and provide feedback. The players' payment? A steak dinner, which Hinton later realized he could have gotten anyway from the Florida training table.

But Hinton was fascinated by Cade and by his first real exposure to the scientific method, so he didn't mind the prodding, the Dixie cups full of lukewarm synthetic sweat or the rides home in Cade's Studebaker, which had no back seat.

"He had this absolute, traplike scientific mind," Hinton said. "He was always working."

Hinton last saw Cade in 2005 while filming a Gatorade commercial in Gainesville. During their first meeting in more than 30 years, Hinton thanked Cade for inspiring him.

"He was a real fine fellow," Hinton said. "Dr. Cade had a major impact on me and on my approach toward science."

Andy Staples

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