Jason Hess
Jason was born and raised on the family farm, where his love of farming and basketball began. He attended Ashland High School (AHS) and during his sophomore year, Jason earned a starting spot on the varsity basketball team. He would finish his high school career with three varsity letters in basketball and graduate from AHS in 2000. During his playing days at AHS Jason was a first-team OHC selection three years as well as the team MVP for three seasons.
After high school, Jason went on to attend Malone University and continue his basketball career. Jason was a four-year letter winner for the Pioneers and a two-time All-AMC first-team selection as well as a two-time Academic All American. During his senior campaign Jason led the NAIA Division II in rebounds per game. He also earned a Third-team NAIA All-American honor. Jason became only the third Malone Pioneer to earn All-American status and the first to finish his career with over 1,500 points and over 1,000 rebounds. He finished his college career in 2004 with a double major in Business Administration and Accounting.
In 2005, Jason came back to Ashland to run the family farm with his dad and become the Junior Varsity Basketball coach for AHS. He served as the JV/Varsity Assistant Coach for 10 years until 2015 when he became head coach of the Arrows, a position he still holds today.
Steve Hess
Steve was born in 1950 and raised in Ashland, OH. He attended The Ohio State University and received a degree in Dairy Management. He learned farming from his father, Robert, who started farming after returning from serving in the armed forces. Robert and Steve raised dairy cows from 1951 until 1997. He started breeding alpacas in 1997. Steve married his wife, Kathy in 1977 and they raised three boys. Steve works the land and cattle next to Jason everyday. Together they have expanded the farming operation to include 750 acres of land with soy, wheat and corn and raising cattle, alpacas and chickens. When they can't work on the crops, they help Steve's brother, Stan, with his maple syrup farm and all three Hess men continue to renovate the 1884 farm house Jason plans to move his family into once complete.
Jennifer & Sydney Hess
Jennifer and Sydney Hess joined the family in April 2019. Jennifer grew up in Northeast Ohio and is now a project manager for a Canadian Standards Development Organization in Independence. She received a degree in Painting from Kent State University and a Master's in Business from John Carroll. She loves to help around the farm in her spare time.