The accolades keep coming for stand-up comedy sensation Nate Bargatze. Back in 2023, he broke the all-time attendance record at the Bridgestone Arena in his native Nashville (a record previously held by country musician Morgan Wallen). He was recently reported by Billboard as having the top-grossing standup comedy tour of 2024, and now his hometown newspaper, The Tennessean, is reporting that the new gymnasium at his alma mater, Donelson Christian Academy, will be named in his honor.
Bargatze graduated from DCA in 1997, and he and his wife, Laura Bargatze, have given the school significant financial support since he’s become a success in comedy. He hosts an annual charity golf tournament to raise funds for the school, and in 2023, he wrote them a check for $1.5 million as the lead donation towards their efforts to build a proper indoor gym. And that’s why the gym is going to be named after him, not for his own athletic achievements, as he told the paper in 2023:
“I got cut from everything at DCA…I got cut from basketball. I think I got cut from golf, to be honest. I played track my senior year, and that was the only thing I made.”
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Bargatze is the nephew of Ronnie Bargatze, also known as “Uncle Ronnie,” a local high school athletic hero who went on to become a coach at Vanderbilt University and several other institutions. The christening of the gymnasium is happening in January, on the same night as the school’s girls’ and boys’ varsity basketball games, with the presentation in his honor coming in between the two.
Bargatze has long been a popular draw on the stand-up circuit, but his star has really been on the rise lately with two acclaimed gigs hosting “Saturday Night Live” (both of which feature versions of the new classic “George Washington” sketch) and a recent holiday TV special.