[2] He was a star on the Fenger football team, catching 10 touchdown passes as a senior[3] in helping to lead the 1954 Titans squad to South-Central City League title with an 8–1 record.

[2] He was also one of eleven players tapped by the Southtown Economist newspaper for the South Chicago All-Star first team, which included members of public, private, and Catholic high schools.

He acquitted himself well and as a future sophomore in 1956 spring practice, he was regarded by coaches as a promising candidate to make an impact on the Tigers varsity squad that coming fall.

[6] Kreitling would make the fourth member of his Fenger High School team to play for head coach Ray Eliot and the Fighting Illini in 1957.

[6] By the time the 1957 season kicked off, the "fleet sophomore" Kreitling had managed to win a starting place at wide receiver on the Illinois team.

[7] Kreitling got off to a hot start, leading the Illinois squad in pass receiving, but would sustain a back injury that caused him to lose more than a week of practice and miss the team's game against Michigan State, a 19–14 loss.

[12] Head coach Eliot, a veteran of 17 college football seasons at the helm at Illinois, was impressed enough of his junior receiver to proclaim him "the best offensive end I've had — he's got great hands.

"[12] Opposing coach Bennie Oosterbaan of Michigan was similarly laudatory, characterizing Kreitling in three words as "excellent, dangerous, deceptive" and noting that his three touchdown catches had come despite having "worked on pass defense all week" and having "had two men assigned to him.

[13] Kreitling would be named a third team All-American by the Associated Press, joined by future NFLers Joe Kapp of Cal, Alex Hawkins of South Carolina, and Nick Pietrosante of Notre Dame.

[18] Kreitling's fifth season with the Browns, 1963, saw diminished output in terms of quantity from the high-water mark of the previous year, with the wide receiver catching just 22 balls for 386 yards.

[18] The Browns would use the 11th pick of the first round of the 1964 NFL draft to select a new wide receiver — future Hall of Famer Paul Warfield, out of Ohio State University.

Battling injuries to his knee and shoulder and facing competition for playing time, Kreitling announced his retirement from football in August 1965 at the age of 29.