Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/1405271
30 WAC Magazine | wac.net Before Marsh, Jason's career focused on public relations with a brief detour to help launch a wealth-management start-up. "I've been pretty fortunate in the places that I've been, in the stops that I've had, to learn something, to grow emotionally and professionally, and then take it to the next thing," he says. While he was still coaching at UW, Jason married high school sweetheart Michelle Boston. Son Jackson, now 17, and daughter Mia-Michelle, now 14, followed a few years later. e Hamilton family lives just above Lake Washington in the same Eastside neighborhood where Jason was raised and attended Hazen High School. He grew up watching Detlef Schrempf and Paul Fortier lead the Huskies to national CLOSE TO prominence but began his own college career at San Diego State. "Part of the reason I transferred to the University of Washington was to help get it back to its winning ways," he says. "I put a lot of time and effort and energy into trying to see the program get back to some glory days—and we did." Moving closer to Michelle was an- other reason he cut short his California sojourn. Although they met when Jason was 12 and Michelle was 13, they didn't start dating until their junior year of high school. "He was too short," Michelle jokes at the family's house, which looks west at the lake and Mercer Island. Michelle comes from a basketball family—sister Shelly and brothers Bryant and Gerry all starred at Garfield High School. Aer college, Jason passed on a chance to play professionally in Australia and opted to join the Husky coaching staff while Michelle attended law school at Seattle University. As Jason says, "Life was beginning." CLUB AND FAMILY Back when Jason and Michelle were new parents looking for a break, they knew right where to turn. "WeeWACs is the first place we ever le our son," Jason says. "Ms. Shawn was the first person outside of a family member that we entrusted our son to stay with and that extended to our daughter. Our kids have grown up in this place and that's what makes it special." Not so long ago, Jason and Michelle u Jason, Michelle, Jackson, and Mia-Michelle chat at the family table. The Hamiltons live in the same neighborhood where Jason grew up.