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For a certain generation of UNH alumni, his truck parked on “The Quad” — the paved loop off Quad Way framed by Englehardt and Gibbs Halls — was as iconic a landmark as the Wildcat statue on Memorial Field or the hilltop wagon on Route 4, shouting distance from the Durham campus. Earlier this year, when Karl Krecklow, owner of “Karl’s Kitchen,” fell ill and landed at Massachusetts General Hospital with advanced heart failure, alums who had stood in lines 20 or 30 students deep to order his famous snotties (French fries with melted Velveeta cheese), “Big Guy” burgers (a trio of quarter-pound burgers on a sub roll) and other colorfully named menu items rallied with financial support and fond memories of Karl, his food and the fellow feeling late-night trips to his truck engendered.
Krecklow passed away on March 7, bringing to a close a chapter of UNH history that opened in the 1970s and grew to lore after “Karl’s Kitchen” shuttered in the late 1990s. Gone but not forgotten, the alumni outpourings in Krecklow’s memory continued on social media with more than one Wildcat noting that they’d respected him like a professor for the hard work and dedication he put into feeding the UNH student body, six or seven days a week in any weather, as late as 3 o’clock in the morning.
Have a Karl’s memory you’d like to share? Let us know on the UNH Magazine Facebook page or at alumni.editor@unh.edu.
