Daniel “Dick” Sawyer

5056 Creekside Trail Drive

Sarasota, Florida 34243

                                                         December 10, 2010

Athletic Department

University of Florida

Gainsville, Florida 32611

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Daniel “Dick” Sawyer. I am 86 years old and a Veteran who served in World War II in the Pacific and European Theaters. I worked with Stokely Van Campen for 34 years. At the end of my career I was the Division Sales Manager for the Southeast and Southwest Divisions of the Company.

I was living in Charlotte, NC when Dr. Cade presented the opportunity to market Gatorade.  I was one of four people who went to Indianapolis to taste and explore the possibility of our company selling Gatorade. It tasted like dishwater but we said the possibility of it becoming a viable product were good. Our in house laboratory started working with the taste and color of the product and came up with a lemon lime recipe. 

As explained to us the product was actually canned sweat, but we did not want to advertise in that light. It was a product with a purpose. It replaced the electrolytes and other chemicals we lose when we sweat.  We introduced the product in 1966 in Jacksonville, Florida. When other customer in the southeast such as Winn Dixie, Food Line, and Harris Teeter and other companies in the southeast heard about the product they started boot legging it out of Florida.

I have hundreds of stories as to the legitimacy of Gatorade. Enclosed is a picture that was taken in the Miami Playboy Club where we had all of customers in the area listen to our stories on the great properties of Gatorade.

In the early 1970’s I had a very good friend who I played tennis and poker with. His name was Bob Spurrier, the uncle of Steve Spurrier. Steve played poker with us when he was in town. If I am not mistaken he was coaching at Duke at the time. He then went on to become a backup quarterback coach at Tampa Bay. I became an avid fan of the Gators when he became the Coach of the University of Florida, and also because of the fact that Gatorade came from the University.

My reason for writing this letter is to recommend that you consider Tim Tebow for Head Coach. He followed the same path as Steve Spurrier in that they both won the Heisman Trophy. Tebow being with the Denver Broncos is similar to Steve’s experience before he became Head Coach at the University of Florida. Can you imagine Tim’s possibilities as a recruiter? Every kid in the United States would want to play for him. Because of his outstanding character and work ethic and enthusiasm every mom and dad would want their son to play for the University. I know this is a long epistle but I feel so strongly about the probability of Tim Tebow being considered for this job.

Sincerely,

Daniel “Dick” Sawyer