Beloved Palatine hot dog vendor dies
The eighth annual Casey Pohl Memorial Baseball Tournament opened Thursday in Palatine, but without one of its main attractions.
Karl Radloff, who ran the concession area at the Hamilton Sports Fields and drove a hot dog cart out to the gazebo near the baseball diamonds, died Tuesday of cardiac arrest. The lifelong Palatine resident was 51.
“He was in the midst of making preparations for this big tournament, ordering all the food and getting everything ready when he just put his head down,” said his cousin, Valerie Gaylord of Arlington Heights.
Bill Lashiava of Palatine has agreed to carry on with this weekend's concessions, preparing to sell upward of 300 burgers and nearly 500 hot dogs, but he admits they won't have Radloff's touch.
“They're your basic Chicago red hots,” Lashiava said, “but Karl served them up with a lot of love.”
Radloff grew up in Palatine and graduated from Fremd High School before entering the body shop business.
“But he always had a passion for cooking,” Gaylord said. “He was self-taught, but he was amazing.”
Jim Nolan, a bartender at Oak Alley Saloon in Palatine, where Radloff worked part time, described him as a gourmet chef who dreamed of one day opening his own restaurant. It was Nolan who loaned him the money to buy his first hot dog cart.
“That was his start,” Nolan said. “He'd take it to different businesses that were opening, or to parties. But once the park district thing came through, that kept him busy.”
Palatine Park District officials contracted with Radloff to run the concession building at Hamilton when it opened in 2005. Beyond regular season soccer and baseball games, he also serviced tournaments, including the Celtic Cup soccer tournament over the Labor Day weekend.
More recently, Radloff provided concessions for the “Big Trucks” event on May 7 at Palatine's Family Aquatic Center.
In the past, he had been a food vendor at Christkindlmarkt and the Art in the Park events at North School Park in Arlington Heights, as well as the annual pig roast at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Hawthorn Woods.
“He was just a nice person,” said Ron Gbur, executive director of the Palatine Park District. “You don't come across many genuine people like him.”
Radloff never married. He is survived by his parents, Harold and Marion of Palatine, as well as his siblings Holly (Douglas) Frinkle, Eric (Vicki) Radloff and Lisa (Mark) Nelson, as well as many nieces and nephews.
Visitation will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Ahlgrim Family Funeral Home, 201 N. Northwest Highway in Palatine. A funeral service takes place at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 24500 N. Old McHenry Road in Hawthorn Woods.