Packer fans share mixed emotions over Driver's retirement

GREEN BAY (WITI) -- Sadness was a shared sentiment in Green Bay and throughout Wisconsin on Thursday, January 31st as Packers wide receiver Donald Driver announced his retirement.

"I would've enjoyed watching him play for a couple more years," one Packers fan said.

Driver has prepared to hang up his cleats and call it a career. A retirement ceremony is planned for Wednesday, February 6th inside the Lambeau Field Atrium.

"He was never the biggest or the fastest wide-receiver, but he had probably as much desire as anybody," another Packers fan said.

After laboring at Lambeau Field for 14 years, Jerry Watson, the owner of Green Bay's Stadium View Bar and Grill says Driver is one of, if not the most prized of the Packers.

"He’s as well-loved as a Packer as anybody I can remember and I was Lombardi’s ‘Gate-man,’ so I go back that far with the Packers. He’s at the top of the heap because of the way he’s doing it," Watson said.

Driver's retirement ceremony is free for Green Bay Packers fans.

Watson says that's what he would expect from someone who is an integral part of the history of Green Bay, both as a player and as a member of the community.

"He was the exception. He wasn’t the rule. He was the exception as for how good he was for being a spokesman for the Packers," Watson said.