Rick Kogan: ‘Rise Above’ is about the surprisingly upbeat life of a Masters caddie for more than 50 years
CHICAGO — To help support his family, a tiny 11-year-old named Carl Jackson took a walk. He walked from the scraggly neighborhood where he lived with his parents and eight siblings in a rural town named Sand Hills in Georgia to the pristine greenery next door.
The little boy had dropped out of school and was looking for a job, which he found after walking through a fence that bordered the famous Augusta National Golf Club where the Masters Tournament is annually held, this year’s beginning on April 10. He became a caddie, and that is what he would proudly be for the next 54 years.
It’s been some journey, usually with a heavy golf bag on his shoulders, and it has brought him a decent living, a stable family, many encounters with wealthy golfers and talented professionals and some powerful mentors and friends, including golfer Ben Crenshaw, whose bag he carried to two Masters titles (1984 and 1995), and induction into the Caddie Hall of Fame.
Now, nearing 80, he is a movie star, the compelling center of a tender and inspiring documentary available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV+ titled “Rise Above: The Carl Jackson Story.” It has been a hit on the festival circuit, a 10-time official selection in international fests. It won for best feature documentary at the Cannes Indie International Film Festival last year.
“I appreciate all of that. It is touching people, and not only festival judges. I think people are impressed, even amazed that Carl has never forgotten his humble beginnings,” says the movie’s director, producer and writer, whose name is Maryilene Blondell, who lives on Chicago’s North Side.
Before becoming involved with Jackson and his story, she knew little about golf, her experience limited to a teenage visit to watch one round of the Masters years ago. But she knew journalism and television. And she knew people and knew a good story.
“Carl is so genuine and sincere,” Blondell says. “There wasn’t any person I asked to be in this film — Gary Player, Scottie Scheffler — who turned me down.”
Raised in Glenview, she studied journalism in college, became a New York-based network television news producer and freelance writer, moved to Los Angeles where she produced sports and entertainment programs, worked in the nonprofit world, came back to the Chicago area where she co-founded a production company and has started to dip her creative feet into features films, including with “The Road Dance.”
She has two adult sons and a daughter still in high school.
She met Jackson through a friend who knew Carl’s brother. Carl had signed an entertainment contract for an independent production company to make a feature starring Denzel Washington. Big talk, typical of dreamy deal makers.
“I helped him get out of that deal and we kept in touch,” Blondell says. A couple of years later and a handful of Hollywood’s empty promises, Carl told Blondell that he was ready to tell his story. “And he asked me to do it.”
That she has done and it has been quite a learning experience, more about how to live a life than how to read a green. “We got a lot of help,” says Blondell, who tells of a Chicago financier named Paul Purcell. He called out of the blue and said, “I hear you’re making a documentary about my friend Mr. Jackson. If he says he believes in you, I believe in you. What do you need?”
Blondell tells me, “There would not be a ‘Rise Above’ without Paul Purcell.”
And so you’ll watch and learn the rather amazing story of Jackson’s friendship with Augusta member and former club chairman Jack Stephens, an oilman and investment banker, philanthropist and Arkansas resident. He employed Jackson not only on the golf course, but as a jack-of-many-trades personal assistant and confidant, and Jackson moved with his wife and increasing number of children to spend part of each year in Little Rock, where Stephen lived. When Stephen invited Jackson to play Augusta as his guest, he became the first Black nonprofessional to play the course and the first to stay in one of Augusta’s 12 guest cabins.
There are, of course, other stories that could be told about the Masters. “I know that if anyone had reason to be filled with rage and anger over racism and poverty, it was Carl,” Blondell says.
The Masters did not invite a Black competitor to play until 1975, when Lee Elder broke the color barrier. Augusta, which is secretive about its membership roster, didn’t admit its first Black member until 1990.
“Carl and I were determined to tell an inspiring story that might bring people together rather than tear them apart,” Blondell says.
In any case, caddies are likely due for extinction. In many parts of the U.S., caddies have gone the way of bowling-alley pin setters, available at less than 10% of the country’s 15,000 golf courses. Jackson retired in 2015. What has steadily diminished their number and threatens, some would say, their very existence, is the golf cart As I have written, “If the most aggressive assault on the status of caddies is technological, the other is more subtle and psychological. Most golfers stink — an oft-cited statistic has it that 70 percent of golfers can’t manage to shoot below 100 — and who wants a stranger observing their ineptitude?
———
(Rick Kogan is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune.)
———
-
From walking with Mike Leach to sitting with Nick Saban, Dennis Dodd reflects on 27 years at CBS Sports
Dodd spent 45 years in sports journalism in a career anything but short yet certainly sweet; he still has a few thoughts on his way outCBS Sports - Mar. 13 -
Vance says pro-Ukraine protestors confronted him while he was with his daughter
Vice President Vance said that he was confronted by a group of pro-Ukraine protestors while he was walking with his 3-year-old daughter on Saturday. Vance wrote that he encountered “Slava Ukraini” ...The Hill - Mar. 9 -
Rick Springfield remembers falling off a stage 25 years ago. So does his body: 'brain damage'
'Jessie's Girl' rocker Rick Springfield says he lives with the lasting toll of a hard fall that happened decades ago in Las Vegas: 'I found out I have some brain damage.'Los Angeles Times - Mar. 10 -
Teen killer of mum and siblings planned 'massacre of the century'
The 19-year-old will be sentenced on Wednesday after he admits to killing his mother, brother and sister.BBC News - 1d -
‘It’s part of who I am’: Heston Blumenthal on the bipolar diagnosis that saved his life, his journey of self-discovery – and how he finally emerged from his family’s shadow
In a searingly honest interview, the star chef talks about the pressure of success, dealing with grief and how being sectioned by his wife changed everything. Heston Blumenthal, one of Britain’s ...The Guardian - 4d -
Abuse would lead me to walk away from Man Utd, says Ratcliffe
Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he would walk away if he gets "abused" by fans in the same way the Glazer family have.BBC News - 5d -
Connecticut man says he was held captive by stepmother for 20 years
A 32-year-old man told police he intentionally set fire to a home in Waterbury, Connecticut, in order to escape the house, where he alleged that he was held captive for about 20 years. His ...CBS News - 6d -
'Pawn Stars' star Rick Harrison opens up about death of son: 'Nothing worse than losing a kid'
"Pawn Stars" star Rick Harrison opened up about processing grief after losing his son to a drug overdose last year.NBC News - 4h -
Teenager who killed family and planned school massacre gets 49 years in prison
A 19-year-old British man who shot and killed his mother and two younger siblings and who wanted to carry out a high-profile school shooting has been told he will not be eligible for parole for at ...ABC News - 1d
More from Yahoo Sports
-
Michigan vs. UC San Diego Livestream: How to Watch the Men’s March Madness Game Online
The Wolverines take on the Tritons from the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, in tonight's first round showdownYahoo Sports - 23m -
Croatia beats France 2-0 in Nations League quarterfinals to spoil Mbappé's return
Croatia contained the attacking duo of Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé in a 2-0 victory over France in the first leg of the Nations League quarterfinals Thursday. Ante Budimir headed Croatia ...Yahoo Sports - 23m -
How can one Notre Dame women's basketball player get her game back in gear during March Madness?
Notre Dame women's basketball has had to sit with a lackluster loss in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the last 13 days, which hasn't sat well with one IrishYahoo Sports - 23m -
SIUE's Ray'Sean Taylor broke down in tears after NCAA loss. The chance to play meant that much
The best assist that Brian Taylor II made on Thursday after SIU Edwardsville had been routed by Houston in the school's first trip to the NCAA Tournament came long after the teams had walked off ...Yahoo Sports - 26m -
Purdue basketball prediction vs McNeese: Who has edge in March Madness second round
Purdue was a popular upset pick in the first round, will No. 12 McNeese State be this March Madness' Cinderella?Yahoo Sports - 27m
More in Sports
-
Barcelona to finish season at Olympic Stadium
Barcelona on Thursday informed its fans that the club will finish the season at Olympic Stadium where they will play all remaining LaLiga and Champions League matches as construction at Spotify ...ESPN - 20m -
Chelsea ink Sporting pair, deals worth up to $80M
Chelsea have reached an agreement to sign Sporting Lisbon's Geovany Quenda and Dario Essugo in a joint deal worth up to €74.4 million ($81.15 million), the Portuguese side confirmed on Wednesday.ESPN - 20m -
Tuchel: England were afraid to lose at Euro 2024
Thomas Tuchel has said he believes England struggled to produce consistent performances at Euro 2024 as the players were more afraid of being knocked out of the tournament than they were focused to ...ESPN - 20m -
Japan become 1st side to qualify for '26 World Cup
Japan beat Bahrain 2-0 in Saitama on Thursday to become the first team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.ESPN - 20m -
Andy Robertson: Liverpool career far from over
Andrew Robertson has brushed off criticism of his Liverpool performances this season and insisted that his time at Anfield is not coming to an end.ESPN - 20m