Rudy Kuechenberg, who played in six games for the Green Bay Packers in 1970, died Dec. 15, 2025, in Cape Coral, Fla. Kuechenberg was 82.
Kuechenberg played in the NFL for five years total from 1967-71, including three with the Chicago Bears and briefly with Cleveland and Atlanta.
Although Kuechenberg's time with the Packers was fleeting, he was a wild man on special teams and quickly became a fan favorite.
Released by the Bears in training camp, Kuechenberg was signed by the Packers in early November and placed on their taxi squad, that day's version of the practice squad. A week later, Kuechenberg was activated the Sunday morning of the Packers-Bears game at Lambeau Field.
Following the Packers' 20-19 victory over the Bears, coach Phil Bengtson praised the kick coverage and singled out Kuechenberg. On one of the returns, according to the next day's Green Bay Press-Gazette, Kuechenberg flew over the wedge and smacked Cecil Turner "with the authority of a block of cement."
"I was taught for four years to hate the Packers," Kuechenberg said after the game. "But just playing for the Bears I learned to hate the Bears. I wasn't happy with them and today I got my revenge."
What went unreported at the time was that Kuechenberg had asked Bengtson if he could give a pre-game talk in the locker room. It was one some players never forgot.
"We had our pre-game talks and I think Gillie (Gale Gillingham) and Bart (Starr) said their things, all the guys we looked up to," Larry Krause, a running back from Greenwood, Wis., via St. Norbert College, said in a 1997 interview. "I think Willie Wood said something. Carroll Dale.
"Then, Rudy Kuechenberg goes: 'Daaah, can I say something coach?' He was so psyched up that he rattled on for like 10 minutes straight of profanity. Everybody is kind of looking at each other like: 'What the hell is he talking about?' Nobody could understand anything, but his swearing. Then on the kickoff … Rudy is just jawin' at (Dick) Butkus. 'Oh, Dick, … I'm going to kick the crap out of you, kill you, do this.' Dick never looks sideways and says: 'Rudy, you're crazy.'"
By jumping around and celebrating each of his special teams tackles that day, Kuechenberg, not surprisingly, instantly endeared himself to Packer fans.
"Ray Nitschke went to a restaurant that night," Kuechenberg remembered in a 2005 interview. "The next day or Tuesday he comes back to practice and says, 'Coach, I've been here 13 years and they wouldn't serve my dinner until I signed up for (Kuechenberg's) fan club.'"
Eleven days later in a game at Dallas, Kuechenberg blocked a punt at the Cowboys' 37-yard line.
The following year, he was waived by new head coach Dan Devine when he refused to sign an injury waiver for a hamstring problem at the start of training camp.
