[1] Wheaties was created in 1921, as a result of an accidental spill of a wheat bran mixture onto a hot stove by a Minnesota clinician working for the Washburn Crosby Company (later General Mills).

[2] Soon after, the name was changed to Wheaties as a result of an employee contest won by Jane Bausman, the wife of a company export manager.

Wheaties began to be advertised on Minneapolis's WCCO radio station (owned by Washburn Crosby) on December 24, 1926, with the first-ever pre-recorded commercial jingle.

[3] Wheaties began its association with sports in 1927, through advertising on the southern wall of minor league baseball's Nicollet Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In 1934, athletes began to be depicted on the Wheaties boxes, starting with baseball star Lou Gehrig, and the tradition continues today.

For General Mills, he poured Wheaties into a bowl, added milk and sugar on top (some reports say he also sliced a banana), then proclaimed "Now that's the breakfast of champions."

He was asked to create play-by-play recreations of Chicago Cubs baseball games using transcribed telegraph reports; his job performance in this role led to his selection in 1937 as the most popular Wheaties announcer in the nation.

This led to his eventual film career; thus the Wheaties claim of perhaps leading Reagan into show business, and later politics as governor of California and 40th President of the United States.

Due to increasing costs in the 1940s of sponsorship of broadcasting, Wheaties began simple commercial sports testimonials on television or radio.

In the early 1950s, General Mills redirected its promotional strategy for Wheaties to focus on children, following its great success in this market with its Cheerios brand.

The strategy included sponsorship of The Lone Ranger and The Mickey Mouse Club, as well as the development of a mascot, a puppet character called Champy the Lion, produced by Bil Baird and voiced by Thurl Ravenscroft.

Despite these efforts, sales of Wheaties declined dramatically, mainly due to adult consumers' dislike of so-called children's cereals.