ARKANSAS SPORTS HALL OF FAME: CARL JACKSON

Ben’s Masters mind

Ben Crenshaw hugs caddie Carl Jackson after winning the 1995 Masters in Augusta, Ga. Jackson, who will caddie for Crenshaw in April for the 39th time at the Masters, will be inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame on Friday.
Ben Crenshaw hugs caddie Carl Jackson after winning the 1995 Masters in Augusta, Ga. Jackson, who will caddie for Crenshaw in April for the 39th time at the Masters, will be inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame on Friday.

The sixth in a series profiling 2015 inductees into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.

Mike "Fluff" Cowan and Steve Williams are household names in the golf world for carrying Tiger Woods' bag during the pinnacle of the 14-time major champion's career.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Carl Jackson

Willie Peterson became widely known as Jack Nicklaus' caddie for five of the Golden Bear's six Masters' victories. Even Phil Mickelson's longtime looper, Jim "Bones" Mackay, is recognizable between the ropes.

Carl Jackson glance

AGE 67 (March 31, 1947)

HOMETOWN Augusta, Ga.

RESIDENCE Little Rock

PROFESSION PGA caddie/Alotian Club caddie manager

FIRST MASTERS TO CADDIE 1961

PGA TOUR VICTORIES AS CADDIE 3

NOTEWORTHY A 2008 inductee into the Arkansas State Golf Association Hall of Fame. … Caddied for 1984 and 1995 Masters champion Ben Crenshaw and for Crenshaw when he won the 1990 Colonial National Invitational. … Founder of Carl’s Kids Foundation in Little Rock.

Then there is Carl Jackson, a ninth-grade dropout who will be inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame on Feb. 27 at the Statehouse Convention Center.

Jackson, 67, is preparing to don the famous white coveralls at Augusta National for a record 53rd, and possibly final time, in early April. It also will mark the 39th time Jackson will caddie for Ben Crenshaw at Augusta, and that includes both of Crenshaw's Masters victories.

"When you think about great caddies, Carl is one of them that comes to mind," said Stephens Inc. CEO Warren Stephens, the founder of The Alotian Club where Jackson is the caddie manager. "Really, how many other caddies do you know the names of?

"Ben Crenshaw's been a great player, and Carl has been right there. I would say Carl has risen to the very top of his profession."

It was Stephens' late father, Jack, a longtime Augusta National member and one of its former chairmen, who gave Jackson his first experience at the Masters in 1961 when Jackson was just 14 years old. Jackson dropped out of school after one day in the ninth grade to get a job and help out his family.

Jack Stephens saw to it that Jackson received an education even as he worked.

"When I went to caddie at Augusta National, I ran into problems because I was really young," Jackson said. "Jack Stephens liked me to caddie for him, but they were contemplating running me away from the club because I was just going to cause them problems. Mr. Stephens told them that he would see to it that I got a GED, and I wound up getting it before my regular class graduated."

Jackson caddied that first year for Billy Burke, who missed the cut in his final Masters appearance, but it was during the 1970 tournament that Jackson was on the bag for one of the game's greats, Gary Player, although it didn't start out as the best golfer-caddie relationship.

"He told me on the second hole of the first practice round, 'I'm going make your job easier for you,' " Jackson said. "He told me to keep up, keep the balls and clubs clean and we'll be fine. During the practice round he and Tony Jacklin were talking things out, practicing together. They would hit the opposite club of what I said and nothing else was said about it.

"Come the first day of the tournament Gary Player hits a perfect drive off the tee. We get to the ball and he walks up 5, 7 yards ahead. I have got the bag standing out. My body language was like, 'Hit any one of them you want.' He came back to the bag and said, 'Carl, which do you like?' I gave him my choice and we got along great.

"I can't ever remember him going against me until the 72nd hole."

It was going into that 72nd hole when Player found himself tied for the lead with Billy Casper and Gene Littler, both of whom had parred out with Player watching from the 18th fairway. Player, the 1961 Masters winner, who would win nine major championships in his lifetime, needed the right club to give himself a chance to make birdie and win the tournament outright.

"I suggested a 5-iron," Jackson said. "He said, 'I feel pumped up. I'm going to hit the 6.' He got the 6 and there wasn't much for me to say about that."

Player hit the 6-iron short into the front bunker, ended up making bogey and missed the playoff that Casper won in an 18-hole format the next day.

Jackson was on the cusp of being on the winner's bag with Player and in 1964 with Bruce Devlin, but it wasn't until he teamed up with Ben Crenshaw in 1984 that his guy walked away with the green jacket for the first time, eight years after Jackson started caddying.

Jackson said Crenshaw was gallant on the back nine during Sunday's final round when he won by two strokes over Tom Watson. But nothing, Jackson said, compares to the 1995 Masters victory that came just days following the death of Crenshaw's mentor, Harvey Penick.

Crenshaw, a 19-time PGA Tour winner, had to fly back to Austin, Texas, for Penick's funeral two days before the Masters started, but not before Jackson spotted something in Crenshaw's swing during a Monday practice round that needed immediate attention.

"He's on the No. 9 tee, and looking back I could see him out of position reaching at the ball." Jackson said. "I said something loud where people and other caddies could hear like, 'Ben, it looks like you're playing hockey back there.' By the time he walked up to the fairway after the tee shot, I made the suggestion that we don't play the back nine.

"He knew I was excited, so we went to the practice tee and didn't play the back nine. Once I made that suggestion, he said after the third ball or so he was good."

The lesson carried over to a one-stroke victory over Davis Love III that culminated in a short bogey putt on the 72nd hole that led to Crenshaw crying in the arms of his caddie, a fitting end to an emotional week for the golfer who had lost the only instructor he ever had.

"I was in a heap," Crenshaw said. "He put his hands on my shoulder and said, 'You all right buddy?' Then we hugged. A good hug. It was way more than a caddie-golfer relationship.

"I couldn't have done the things -- far from the two wins at Augusta -- without Carl. We've shared wonderful experiences and painful losses."

If this is the final Masters for Jackson, it won't go unnoticed.

Jackson will be honored April 6 at the Mayor's Masters Reception, where he will be presented a proclamation declaring it Carl Jackson Day in Augusta and given a crystal key to the city. It will be the first time a non-golfer has been honored since the event began in 1999.

There is no question who Jackson credits with his success.

"The Stephens family is a very good family," Jackson said. "I couldn't have picked a better situation for myself. I learned so much from Jack Stephens and others about how they respected the game. Those are life-learning experiences. I learned myself those things you can't find in the classroom. I got a raw education full throttle on the golf course.

"At my age, I don't crave to caddie anywhere else. When I was out there, the tour took me around the country. I met a lot of good people and have a lot of friends because of it.

"I must say my life has been extremely blessed to turn out like it has."

Sports on 02/22/2015

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