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'The Fabric Of Football' Tougher Than Most

FOXBORO (CBS) -- How about taking a walk through football history in an unusual way. It's all at a new exhibit that has opened at The Hall at Patriot Place.

And for this one, quarterbacks gave the shirts off their backs.

"This is Johnny Unitas' jersey from the Baltimore Colts. He was MVP that season. 1967 that jersey is from," says Bryan Morry, executive director of The Hall at Patriot Place, as he shows us around. It's really a trip in the way-back machine.

"This is Joe Montana's jersey from 1987," says Morry.

NFL QB jerseys
Jerseys of John Elway, Len Dawson, Brett Favre and Randall Cunningham are part of the "Fabric Of Football" exhibit. (WBZ-TV)

It's an exhibit of 41 jerseys, from some of football's iconic quarterbacks.

"This is our 49ers contingent. Two Pro Football Hall of Famers, Joe Montana and Steve Young," Morry says.

All the shirts were worn during important games, and some still show the sweat, tears and well, blood, like Detroit's Bobby Layne.

"This is his jersey from December 8th, 1957. He suffered a horrific broken leg in that game, and his blood stains are still all over the jersey," Morry says.

The exhibit is called "The Fabric of Football."

Flutie Generals jersey
A Doug Flutie New Jersey Generals game-worn jersey, part of the "Fabric Of Football" exhibit. (WBZ-TV)

"We have a lot of Patriots history obviously, but this transcends the Patriots and really covers football in general," Morry told us. That's true, but the Pats are well represented.

Old Patriot QB jerseys
Game-worn jerseys from former Patriot quarterbacks Babe Parilli, Steve Grogan and Drew Bledsoe are part of "The Fabric Of Football" exhibit. (WBZ-TV)

"Babe Parilli was actually a quarterback for the Patriots in the '60s and was part of the Patriot playoff team in 1963. Steve Grogan was here for parts of 3 different decades, from the '70s right up through his final season in 1990. And of course Drew Bledsoe who was part of the Patriot resurrection," says Morry.

There's Elway, Tarkenton, Marino and Favre, but don't forget San Diego's Dan Fouts.

"A cool feature here is, Fouts had to cut a hole in his jersey because when he went to the sidelines they had to insert electrodes. He had a bad back, so they would massage his back with electrodes when he was on the sideline," according to Morry.

The jerseys are all from a collection of just one man, and he has more, a lot more. The exhibit will change over time and include game-worn jerseys from many other players.

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