Well before the celebrity superfan became a trend in the sports world, Donald Sutherland was in on the ground floor with a casual style all his own.
The Canadian actor — who died Thursday at age 88 — was a big supporter of the Montreal Expos during their time in the National League.
“We knew he was a superfan, he was always seated on the third-base side of Olympic Stadium, just about 10 rows from the field,” said longtime sports writer and former Expos PR chief Richard Griffin.
“He made his movie schedule and he made his summer schedule around the Expos’ schedule.”
Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Sutherland grew up in Nova Scotia and studied at the University of Toronto. He later attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art to study acting.
Sutherland became a respected character actor and went on to appear in dozens of films, including “Ordinary People,” “Animal House” and “The Hunger Games.”
The Expos, meanwhile, arrived in 1969 as a Major League Baseball expansion franchise. Sutherland, who had a home in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, gravitated to the team “immediately,” Griffin said.
“He had attained stardom by that time and (coupled) with his love of the game, it gave him the opportunity to be a low-key (supporter),” he said.
The actor had a yacht on the West Coast and would often take in the Expos’ California road swings through Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, Griffin said.
“He wanted to be behind the scenes,” Griffin said. “He didn’t want to be the story, he wanted to watch the story unfold.”
Serge Touchette covered the Expos for nearly 30 years for Le Journal de Montreal but never got the chance to talk to Sutherland.
“He didn’t want to be interviewed back then,” Touchette said via text message. “We tried many times but we struck out. Too bad because it would have been a great story.”
A high point for the Expos came in October 1981 when the team finally qualified for the postseason. Sutherland was there as Montreal edged the New York Mets 5-4 to secure a playoff berth after a strike-interrupted season.
“I think our travelling secretary had to drag Donald at Shea Stadium into the clubhouse,” Griffin recalled. “He didn’t want to be a part of the picture. So when people think about celebrity fans, they think about people trying to be a part of it. He never did.”
NBC cameras captured Sutherland in the crowd as Montreal played the Philadelphia Phillies on the network’s Game of the Week in May 1983.
“This is one of the biggest of all Expos fans: Donald Sutherland,” commentator Bob Costas said on the broadcast. “This is not the kind of celebrity who shows up at a World Series game and makes sure he gets a seat by the TV camera. This is a legitimate fan.”
For the club’s 20th anniversary in 1989, Sutherland — sporting a stylish coat and fedora for his standups outside Olympic Stadium — narrated a script that Griffin wrote for a highlight film project.
The actor oozed charisma as his deep pipes and smooth delivery provided warmth to the package.
“All he wanted (for it) was his same tickets — two tickets in the same spot — and we gave them to him for like four seasons. And that was it,” Griffin recalled. “Can you imagine, Donald Sutherland, the type of star power that he has, and he does a two-hour (narration) for two season tickets for four years? That’s crazy. But that was Donald.”
The Expos moved to Washington in 2005 and were renamed the Nationals. Sutherland also kept an eye on the Toronto Blue Jays, now the only Canadian team left in MLB.
In an interview last October to discuss a postage stamp that commemorated his career, he segued into talk about the Blue Jays’ elimination in the first round of the playoffs.
“Of course, my team is the Expos,” Sutherland said. “They’re gone.”
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FILE - Actor Donald Sutherland appears at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Oct. 13, 2017. Sutherland, the towering Canadian actor whose career spanned "M.A.S.H." to "The Hunger Games," has died at 88. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
FORDYCE, Ark. (AP) — A steady rain was falling outside Fordyce High School, but that didn't deter an army of volunteers who raced to hand out jugs of milk and bags of groceries to a line of cars snaked around the parking lot.
In the days since a shooter killed four people and injured 10 others at the Mad Butcher grocery, this town of 3,200 people has been grieving and grappling with the shock of a mass killing. But the community has also faced the void left by the temporary closure of its only grocery store.
While the Mad Butcher’s workers have been cleaning up from the aftermath of the violence in the south Arkansas store, residents have few nearby alternatives. Though the town has a Walmart and discount retailers with some food options, the closest grocery stores or supermarkets are located in neighboring cities at least half an hour away.
“A lot of people don't have the ability to get there or elderly people don't want to go that far,” said Darrin Brazil, the school's basketball coach, who organized the food pickup with two former classmates. “We just want to do that for the community for help people that really need that.”
The school, a city facility and churches are among sites set up for residents to pick up groceries while the store is closed and being cleaned up.
The struggle has highlighted concerns about “food deserts,” areas without access to affordable, healthy food nearby. Similar efforts sprung up in Buffalo in 2022 after a white supremacist killed 10 people at a supermarket.
"It’s a basic need that people have. It’s kind of bringing us together, to be honest," said Roderick Rogers, a city council member and pastor. “We’re trying to respond with love to overcome this tragedy.”
The front of the Mad Butcher was still riddled with bullets on Wednesday as workers were inside cleaning up and making repairs. A makeshift memorial for the victims — including crosses, flowers and candles — was set up next to the parking lot.
A banner reading “#WeAreFordyceStrong” hung under the store's name and green awning.
“Temporarily closed” signs were taped to the store's front doors. “Please pray for our community," they said.
Police have not given a motive for the shooting. Travis Eugene Posey, 44, pleaded not guilty this week to four counts of capital murder and ten counts of attempted capital murder and is being held in a neighboring county's jail without bond. Posey was injured after a shootout with police officers who responded to the attack, authorities said.
Police have said Posey was armed with a handgun and a shotgun, and multiple gunshot victims were found in the store and its parking lot. Authorities have said Posey did not appear to have a personal connection to any of the victims.
Many of the volunteers stocking up bags and handing them out at the school on Wednesday knew the victims or someone who was in the store as the shooting unfolded.
“The whole city of Fordyce is hurting over this,” said Elvis Smith, the maintenance director for the school district. His wife was in the store during the attack and escaped through a back door.
Houchens Industries, the Kentucky-based company that owns Mad Butcher, said it expected to reopen the store in the coming week, Little Rock television station KTHV reported.
Residents driving through the school's parking lot said they hoped it would be sooner rather than later.
“You definitely don't know what to do,” said Jayda Carlson, who dropped by the school to pick up groceries with her grandmother-in-law on Wednesday. "Am I going to have to spend more money on gas to get groceries and stuff that we need?”
FILE - Police respond to the scene of a shooting, Friday, June 21, 2024, in Fordyce, Ark. (KATV via AP, File)
Damage can be seen to a front window law enforcement officers work the scene of a shooting at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, Ark., Friday, June 21, 2024. (Colin Murphey/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)
A sign in memory of the four victims killed in a mass shooting at the Mad Butcher grocery store sits near the store's parking lot in Fordyce, Ark., on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)
Volunteers hand out bags of groceries and jugs of milk to cars lined up at Fordyce High School in Fordyce, Arkansas on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. The school is one of several food distribution sites that have been set up to help residents after a mass shooting at the Mad Butcher grocery store. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)
Signs are taped to the front doors of the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, Ark. on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. The store has been closed in the days following a mass shooting that killed four people, and volunteers in the community have been setting up food distribution sites to help residents. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)
Volunteers hand out bags of groceries and jugs of milk to cars lined up at Fordyce High School in Fordyce, Ark., Wednesday, June 26, 2024. The school is one of several food distribution sites that have been set up to help residents after a mass shooting at the Mad Butcher grocery store. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)
Trucks sit parked in front of the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, Ark., Wednesday, June 26, 2024. The store has remained closed in the days following a mass shooting that killed four people, prompting volunteers to scramble to set up food distribution sites for residents. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)
