Fritz Coleman is NBC4′s weathercaster on the weekday editions of “Channel 4 News,” airing at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. A Southern California broadcasting icon, Coleman is well known for his sense of humor and extensive knowledge of weather.

Coleman has written and performed two one-man theater acts, titled The Reception and It’s Me! Dad!. He received the 2004 EMA Community Service Award for his involvement with KNBC’s 4 Our Planet, a children’s program. He appeared in a supporting role in one of Raymond Burr’s last Perry Mason television films, The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host, in 1993.

He received a credit on the film Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, an “alternate film” companion to Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

Coleman has been named “Best Weathercaster” in nearly every major paper in Southern California, including the Orange County Register (Critic’s Choice Pool), the San Bernardino Sun (Readers Poll) and four times in the Los Angeles Daily News (Readers Poll).

Coleman devotes much of his free time to charitable activities and frequently organizes evenings of entertainment for local service and civic organizations, as well as serving as master of ceremonies for dozens of Southern California community events. He has won a number of awards and honors for his dedication to community service. In 2004, he won two Humanitarian of the Year Awards – one from Shelter Partnership and the other from the California Hospital Medical Center. The City of Los Angeles named Coleman a “Treasure of Los Angeles” in 1999, and the United States House of Representatives gave him the Humanitarian of the Year Award for his fundraising efforts on behalf of the American Red Cross. Coleman has also been honored by the Los Angeles Chapter of the Salvation Army for his long-time commitment to the organization and his efforts as Christmas Fundraising Chairman and for chairing the annual Fritz Coleman Fair Weather Golf Tournament.

A long-time stand-up comic, Coleman has performed at The Improvisation, The IceHouse and other Southern California comedy clubs. He has utilized his humor in a number of series and specials that have aired on NBC4 over the years including “What a Week” (1990 – 1991), “It’s Fritz” (1988-1990), “Fritz and Friends” (Special) and “The Perils of Parenting” (Special). He received four Los Angeles area Emmy Awards for his work on the NBC4 comedy specials and series.

Coleman has written, produced and starred in three one-man plays. His first production “It’s Me! Dad!” won the coveted 1997 Artistic Directors Award. A humorous and touching account of what happens when a “baby boomer” tries to recount his own life for his young children, the play shows how the father comes to grips with the passage of time and the skeletons in his own closet. The production also aired successfully on public television in Los Angeles.

“The Reception,” Coleman’s second play, is an insightful and hilarious look at relationships found at an imaginary wedding reception – the bride’s second marriage — the groom’s third. His most recent play, “Tonight at 11!” is an insider’s look at a typical local newscast. A rollercoaster ride between funny and poignant, Daily Variety called it, “surprising, incisive and powerful.”

Originally from Philadelphia, Coleman attended Salem College in West Virginia and Temple University in Philadelphia where he studied radio, television and film. He worked as a comedian and disc jockey for several years and as a radio personality at WBEN and later WKBW in Buffalo, New York. He left Buffalo for Los Angeles in 1980 to work as a stand-up comic. In 1982 he began work as weekend weatherman at KNBC, and has been the weekday weatherman since 1984. Coleman is an avid runner, rollerblader and skier. He lives in the San Fernando Valley and has two sons and a daughter.

Coleman’s speaking during the dinner follows the prior year footsteps of previous speakers including Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke.

Held Monday, April 30th at the La Canada Country Club, the event is open to parents, alumni, faculty & staff, local business supporters and special guests of Flintridge Preparatory School. The renamed tournament’s evening activities will have Tom Gammill as this year’s Master of Ceremonies.

A prolific and successful comedy writer, he has co-written acclaimed episodes of Seinfeld, The Critic, The Wonder Years, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, and Monk. He has also worked as a producer of episodes of The Simpsons and Futurama.

Gammill started writing comedy for Saturday Night Live in 1979.

In 1981 he co-wrote Steve Martin’s fourth NBC special “Steve Martin’s Best Show Ever” with such notable comedy writers as Eric Idle, Dan Aykroyd, and Lorne Michaels. Three years later he worked on the writing staff of another Lorne Michaels production, The New Show – a comedy sketch show with guests including Steve Martin and John Candy, which was similar to Saturday Night Live.

In 1986 he joined the writing staff on It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, and in 1989 he co-wrote an episode for The Wonder Years called “Math Class”.

Tom Gammill and Max Pross joined the Seinfeld writing team during the show’s fifth season (1993) and stayed until the show’s penultimate eighth season (1998). On the Seinfeld DVDs, Jerry Seinfeld credits the pair with bringing a “buoyancy” to the writing staff that aided the development of fresh ideas during the show’s middle years. Seinfeld mentioned that he and co-creator Larry David were initially worried about Gammill and Pross’ writing style, as the pair created stories that were a “level of silliness” that the show had never gone to before. Ultimately the worry was unfounded, as the pair ended up writing some of the most famous Seinfeld shows during the series’ run.

Gammill has been a consulting producer on The Simpsons since 1999 and was promoted to producer in 2001. He (with his writing partner) won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 2001 for the episode “HOMR”.

A parent of two Prep alumni, Gammill hosted Prep’s acclaimed 2011 “Bollywood” fundraiser.

He’ll be joined at the Parents and Alumni Golf Tournament & Dinner by Special Guest Speaker Fritz Coleman.

Born in Altadena, Barden played football at Prep before graduating in 2003. The three-time all-league selection caught 41 passes for 915 yards and 4 touchdowns as a senior, while also playing free safety. As well as playing football, Barden averaged 17 points per game in basketball and competed also in volleyball and track and field. He was also named small schools High School Athlete of the Year, while being pursued by UPenn, Stanford University, San Diego, and Cal Poly-SLO. Barden ultimately signed with the Cal Poly-SLO Mustangs.

Barden finished his Cal Poly-SLO career with 206 receptions, 4,203 yards, and 50 touchdowns. In his last game at Cal Poly-SLO had 108 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 49-35 loss to Weber State in the first round of the FCS playoffs.

In the 2009 NFL Draft, the Giants moved up six spots in the third round of the draft to select Barden. The move up for Barden cost the Giants their own third-round pick (91st overall) and one of their two fifth-rounders (164th), which they sent to their division rivals the Philadelphia Eagles. He saw little playing time in his rookie season, participating in 3 games and recording 1 catch for 16 yards. In his second season he had 5 catches for 64 yards in 3 games before being placed on injured reserve on November 16, 2010 after breaking his ankle and suffering ligament damage. Place on the Active/Physically-Unable-To-Perform List on on July 29, 2011. He returned to action on November 6, 2011, catching 2 passes for 24 yards in a win against the New England Patriots 24-20.

Shared Athletic Director Alex Rivera, “Ramses hasn’t lost touch at all with the community at Prep. He’s got a big heart and he’s very humble. He knows the people that helped get him to where he is.” Ramses even tweeted to the PrepFathersClub the Saturday afternoon before the Game, “Tell everyone I said hello!”

The success of Ramses career is another chapter in the rich tradition of Prep Football. Learn more about Ramses.

Renamed the Flintridge Prep Parents & Alumni Golf Tournament and Dinner, the event will be held this year on Monday, April 30th at the La Canada Flintridge Country Club.

“The changes reflect two of the fastest growing demographics of the event’s participants,” shared Mark Durkin, the Fathers Club Vice President for the event. “There’s been an increasing number of alumni who’ve been playing so they can catch up with classmates while others have come after the golf to participate in the Silent Auction and stay for dinner & the entertainment.”

Glenn Leisure (class of '72) showing off next to his winnings from his hole-in-one during the 2011 tournament.

Sponsorship opportunities for the Flintridge Prep Parents & Alumni Golf Tournament and Dinner will begin in early February and ticket sales for participants will begin March 17th through April 15th.

The excitement of the football game was matched by the excitement and spirited parading by the court itself:

7th Grade; Princess Haley Harris & Prince Ivan Verbinski, Princess Ellie Morrissey & Prince Brian Pipes

8th Grade; Princess Nanita Balagopal & Prince Scott Johnson, Princess Sharon Chow & Prince Lawrence Kim

9th Grade; Princess Ronni Cuccia & Prince Julian Yamamoto, Princess Daniela Motte & Prince Benja-min Aledort

10th Grade; Princess Michaela Wiebe & Prince Bryce Delgado, Princess Kaitlyn Liston & Prince Dante Tobar

11th Grade; Princess Lucy Wagner & Prince Isaac Yamamoto, Princess Gabby Zen & Prince Chadd Cosse

12th Grade; Princess Caribay Franke & Prince Zach Myers, Princess Valerie Lam & Prince Tomás Diaz

Homecoming King & Queen; Queen Katrina Boyd & King James Bradley

J.V. Football 4:00 PM

Varsity Football 7:00 PM

The oldest rivalry is said to be the annual Harvard-Yale game, which has been inviting alumni to return home for The Game since the 1870s, but the origins of the first homecoming celebration remain largely contested. Baylor, Illinois and Missouri are three of the frontrunners, all having planned and held their first “coming home” celebrations around 1910. Within our Prep League however, Flintridge Prep and Chadwick have the oldest football rivalry dating back to 1949. Under the tutelage of Coach Jim Wood over the next 25 seasons, “the father of six-man football in Southern California” lead his team to 15 championships. Over those decades, Flintridge won 161 games and lost only 38. Prep moved from 6-man football in 1974, which was also our last undefeated season.

Rebel football success includes three visits to the CIF finals, defeating Poly for two championships, including a CIF 8-Man 60-35 victory played at Prep’s campus.

As for Coach Beattie’s own record, he was head coach for 15 years, amassing a total of 96 victories! In what will most likely be an unmatched resume, he’s coached 6-man, 8-man, and 11-man football!

Go Rebels!

Here’s the breakdown:

• Lining up all of the roasted corn end-to-end would total 800′
• Record of 1,044 attendees was a 6.0% increase over prior year
• 140 lbs of green salad were served
• All of the presale raffle tickets lined up stretches 0.3707 miles
• 25% more chicken dinners were served over prior year
• 640 lbs of cubed ice were used
• 4320 individual photographs were used in the making of the unedited time lapse video of the entire day

• 87.9% of the 33 songs played were by American bands
• 175 lbs of potato salad and 25 gallons of pasta salad were eatenore bands whose names begin with the letter “J” were played during the BBQ (18.2%) than any other letter (Jackson 5, John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John, Johnny Cash, Journey) followed by the letter “B” (15.2%)
• The ratio of steak:chicken served narrowed from prior year from 3:2 to 6:5
• 18.2% of the songs played have female lead singers
• The combined height of all of the hats worn by members of the Raffle Ticket Team totals 20′
• 936 rolls were consumed
• “Hail to the Chief” was played twice introducing Headmaster Bachmann
• Total volume of 312.4 litres of soda were served
• 27.3% of the songs played include an American city (or other place) in their titles
• 96 Veggie burgers were grilled
• The eighty 10′ diameter tables used to seat guests have a combined total area equivalent to 4,500 16″ pizzas
• The loudest rooting section of the raffle prize winners was for iPad2winner Hope Connigan

• 47″ Vizio TV; Annie Pridjian
• iPhone 5; Daniela Motte
• XBOX360 Console with Kinect; Evan Brody
• Cirque du Soleil tickets for IRIS; Jo French
• iPad2 32GB; Hope Connigan
• SE Draft Bike; Colleen Bissner
• Kate Spade $200 Gift Certificate; Melissa Colliflower
• Urban Outfitters $150 Gift Certificate; Josie & Charlie Fellows
• Madden NFL 12 for XBOX 360; Ginny Brummett
• iPod Nano 8GB; Gareth Weiss
• Kindle 3G + WiFi; Sarah Gilman
• Membership Prize (Raymond Certificate); Margaret Woolley
• The three brave members of the Fathers Club Geek Squad

In addition to the glee from the prize winners, the BBQ itself was a big hit as judged by the numbers.