Filmmaker Maryilene Blondell spotlights legendary Augusta Caddie Carl Jackson

(Black PR Wire) When the Masters Golf Tournament begins its 89th edition on April 10 at Augusta National, filmmaker Maryilene Blondell – who never knew much about golf --might not be watching, but she will have forged an enduring bond with one of its legendary figures: Caddie Carl Jackson. 

People who know the name know Jackson was “on the bag” for Ben Crenshaw when he won the Masters in 1986 and 1995. Blondell’s internationally award-winning film, “Rise Above: The Carl Jackson Story,” lets the veteran caddie step out of Augusta’s and Crenshaw’s shadows and into the limelight. 

How Blondell made Jackson’s acquaintance and came to write, direct and produce a documentary about him, sounds like kismet. 

Carl Jackson grew up adjacent to the course in the poverty-stricken African American enclave of Sand Hill and caddied at Augusta National for more than 50 years. His career began at age 11, when he dropped out of school and joined his Sand Hill neighbors as a caddie at Augusta National to support his family of 10. At the time, all of Augusta’s caddies were African American.

Learning at the knee of Pappy Stokes, who was on the Augusta National construction crew, young Carl soon became the leading expert at reading Augusta’s devilishly tricky greens. He first teamed with Ben Crenshaw in 1976 and, together, they won two Masters.

Jackson not only became the longest serving caddie in Augusta National history, he also worked 30 years for Jack Stephens, one of the wealthiest men in America and chairman of Augusta National. Jackson moved with his family to Little Rock, Ark., where Stephens ran a major private investment bank. Stephens invited Jackson to play Augusta as his guest, making him the first Black nonprofessional to play Augusta and the first to stay in one of Augusta’s 12 guest cabins.

Jackson retired in 2015, and all his stories went with him. Then, about seven years ago, Blondell got a phone call that would eventually set the documentary in motion.

If anyone had reason to be filled with rage and anger over racism and poverty, it was Carl. “But he wanted to tell a love story, an inspiring story a story to bring people together, not tear them apart,” Blondell says.

And as with all production, “it all boils down to money.” This is where kismet came into play, when a Chicago financier, Paul Purcell, called and said, “I hear you’re making a documentary about my friend Mr. Jackson.”

“The remarkable thing about Paul is that he had never done anything in entertainment,” Blondell says. “There would not be a ‘Rise Above’ without him.”

Since its release, “Rise Above: The Carl Jackson Story” has been a 10-time Official Selection in film festivals worldwide and won Best Documentary Feature at the Cannes Indie International Film Festival in 2024 and it is streaming on Apple+ and Prime Video. 

“This is Mr. Jackson's story and I am humbled to have the privilege of telling it."