Before attracting nearly 63 million subscribers on YouTube, MrBeast was a two-sport high school standout in North Carolina

By Staff Report Jun 3, 2021, 1:00pm

Jimmy Donaldson participated in basketball and baseball at Greenville Christian Academy.

Would you sit in a tub of snakes for $10,000? How about taking on the challenge of spending $1 million in 24 hours? Or offering a bounty hunter $100,000 to track you down? Turning these types of ideas into YouTube videos viewed millions of times is the specialty of former North Carolina high school athlete Jimmy Donaldson – better known as MrBeast.

A 2016 graduate of Greenville Christian Academy (Greenville), Donaldson participated in baseball and basketball at the school before building his following on YouTube that currently sits at 62.9 million subscribers.
Donaldson is a YouTube personality parents can get behind. His videos, which routinely hit 50 million views, are kid-friendly and philanthropy is a central theme. Fans are gobbling up his merchandise and even his burgers after he launched MrBeast Burger featuring over 600 delivery-only locations across the country.

In his most recent video released Tuesday, Donaldson offers to pay for whatever customers at various businesses – including a car dealership – can fit inside of a triangle taped on the ground. It's already closing in on 20 million views in just two days.

According to statistics submitted to MaxPreps, Donaldson played in 70 varsity baseball games at Greenville Christian Academy, batting .424 with 81 hits, 65 RBI, 25 doubles and even two home runs. Not bad.



At 6-foot-3, he carved out a role on the school's varsity basketball team as well, topping out as a junior when he posted 5.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.