Artifacts located in the Chiefs Hall of Honor or stored in the team's offices inside the caves of SubTropolis represent powerful tools that bring the team's and the American Football League's history to life. They forge an emotional connection that crosses time and space, bringing fans closer to the past in a way that words alone often cannot do. Over the coming year, look as we identify a team artifact and tell you its story.

When we set about developing the Kansas City Chiefs' first Hall of Honor, it was our intent to follow our founder Lamar's Hunt's wish and pay tribute to his American Football League, too.

The AFL looked to make a statement when its teams opened up play in 1960, and many did so with its choice of uniforms. Some AFL teams emphasized color, and that represented a departure from what fans had been used to from many NFL teams.

No look was more outrageous in color and design than the Denver Broncos mustard and brown uniforms — a decidedly odd color scheme when compared to the uniforms of today. The team's ownership was strapped for cash in the league's first year and had purchased an entire set of uniforms from the defunct Copper Bowl, an all-star game played in Tucson, Arizona.

Yellow striped socks are the feature most remembered from that first Broncos uniform, however, the socks had white stripes when the team was on the road.

Broncos players and the team's fan base hated the uniform – especially the odd looking socks – and by 1962, both were gone. The franchise adopted a new color scheme of orange, blue, and white.

To show how much everyone hated those early uniforms, club officials burned them mid-field in a unique pre-game ceremony. But with an eye to posterity, Denver ownership held on to a pair and sent it to Lamar Hunt as a reminder of those unsettled early days of the league he had founded.

The sock is currently on display at the Chiefs Hall of Honor inside GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.