Kuechenberg passes away

Former Miami Dolphins guard Bob Kuechenberg, a six-time Pro Bowl selection and member of the only NFL team to achieve a perfect season, died at age 71.

His death Jan. 12 was confirmed by the Dolphins, who had no further details.

Kuechenberg joined the Dolphins as a free agent in 1970, coach Don Shula’s first season, and played for them until 1983. He started every game for the team that went 17-0 in 1972, and started 16 games for the team that repeated as Super Bowl champions in 1973.

Kuechenberg was a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and a member of the Dolphins’ Honor Roll.

“I was sorry to learn of the passing of Bob Kuechenberg, who was not only one of the best players I ever coached but one of the toughest as well,” Shula said in a statement. “He was one of the key performers on our championship teams.”

Shula said Kuechenberg played with a broken arm in the 1974 Super Bowl and still dominated Hall of Fame defensive tackle Alan Page as Miami beat Minnesota 24-7. That game was 45 years ago Sunday.

Former teammate Jim Langer, a Hall of Fame center, said he stayed in touch with Kuechenberg, spoke with him in the past week and was shocked to learn of his death.

“He was the kind of guy you’d want in your foxhole,” Langer said. “He played hard and was very intense about the game, which was typical of our team. He was my roommate for 10 years, and we talked football damn near all the time.”

A native of Gary, Indiana, Kuechenberg played at Notre Dame before being drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1969 but never played for them. Kuechenberg’s 196 games with the Dolphins was a team record until Dan Marino broke it.

FEMALE OFFICIAL MAKES HISTORY >> Sarah Thomas is the first woman to work an NFL playoff game as an on-field official.

Thomas was the down judge in the Jan. 13 divisional round game between New England and the Los Angeles Chargers. That’s a first, according to the league’s Twitter account .

Thomas was hired in 2015 and was already the league’s first female fulltime official.

Terri Valenti was the replay official in Saturday’s playoff game between the Chiefs and Colts, also a first.

TV

ATHLETES AMONG ‘BIG BROTHER’ CAST >> Olympic champion swimmer Ryan Lochte is among the cast announced for the second season of “Big Brother: Celebrity Edition.”

Other house members announced Jan. 13 by CBS include former NFL star Ricky Williams, Olympian Lolo Jones and former WWE wrestler Natalie Eva Marie.

Lochte has said he is training for a shot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The 12-time Olympic medalist was undergoing alcohol counseling in October. He recently announced his wife is expecting their second child.

The rest of the cast is actor Jonathan Bennett, singers and reality TV personalities Tamar Braxton and Kandi Burruss, comedian Tom Green, actor and former O.J. Simpson houseguest Kato Kaelin, actor Joey Lawrence, Lindsay Lohan’s mother Dina Lohan, and former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.

The show follows a group of celebrities living together in a house outfitted with over 80 HD cameras and 100 microphones recording their every move 24 hours a day while they have no contact with the outside world.