Stephen Little is more than a man with a mustache.

For if whiskers above one’s lips makes a man mysterious or flamboyant — an image once projected by movies and myth — that is not this 197-pound junior All-American wrestler from Little Rock. 

“Steve is pretty simple,” Little Rock coach Neil Erisman said. “Things don’t get too complicated for him. He is very straight forward. He is honest and has a lot of grit and toughness about everything in his life. When you think of him, you say he was raised right.”

The son of Greg and Marie Little was basically a man among boys while he grew up in Sturgis, Ky., and became a three-time state champion at heralded Union County High School, where he first decided to grow a mustache.

“Me and one of my friends (teammate Gavin Ricketts, who now wrestles at Bellarmine) started doing it in high school,” recalled Little, adding he only grew it in the wrestling off-season. “I liked the movie Top Gun and the character Goose, who had a mustache and it started with that. I liked the way it looked and I’ve kept it. I’ve had it for so long that it would look weird if I got rid of it.”

The last time he shaved his entire face was after his final high school wrestling season in 2022. He played around with growing a full beard but eventually opted for just the mustache as he began his collegiate career for the relatively-new NCAA Division I program that started in 2019-20.

 “When I first came here, I got to see how it was my true freshman year, when honestly we were getting out butts whupped and it was not fun to watch,” said Little, who redshirted in 2022-23. “But that next year, after spending the whole summer training with these guys, I wanted to change how we wrestle. As a team, we did a great job of doing that and it has shown the past two years.”

That certainly has been the case for the Little Rock program, which — under the leadership of Erisman — grew from a 58th-place finish in 2021 to cracking the Top 20 the past two years. That included last season when the Trojans won a Pac-12 championship and eventually claimed 17th place last March in Philadelphia.

The Trojans featured two All-Americans in each of the last two years with Little stepping on the podium both seasons; finishing seventh as a #9 seed in 2024 and sixth last spring as a #12 seed.

All this adds up to is Little’s ultimate wrestling goal of becoming the school’s first NCAA champion this March in Cleveland.

“I’ve been doing the stuff the past two years and just fell short at nationals,” said Little, a 2024 Pac-12 champ whose career record was 62-14 and ranked third nationally before Little Rock’s Dec. 4 dual with Minnesota. “This year, we’ve added a lot of recovery time and nutrition and I believe that I’m on the right path (to win a national championship).”

“That’s been the thought for over two years,” added Erisman. “We knew he was good his first year, but you don’t know until you see him compete throughout the season. I’ve seen a path for him to be a national champion every year. I believe he can and will do that.

“He has developed and improved his weaknesses. He’s identified those weaknesses and attacked them and over the course of this season, he will continue to get better.”

 Erisman said it has been a “joy” to coach Little.

“You don’t have to correct him as he has few outside distractions,” Erisman said. “I am helping him with wrestling and not spending time just trying to get him to make good decisions on a daily basis. I’m his coach, not his psychologist or disciplinarian. It’s pure coaching with Steve.”

Little is so focused that he is expected to receive both his undergraduate degree (psychology) and master’s degree (sports management) before his college career ends in 2027, when he hopes to attend Physical Therapy school.

“He has a vision and plan for his life and is executing it,” Erisman said. “It’s a maturity thing. He’s mature enough to see beyond right now. He’s able to do multiple things at once and he does them at a high level because he has a 3.9 GPA.”

Little credits his upbringing and the sport of wrestling for his life’s accomplishments.

“If I did not wrestle in high school, I don’t know where I’d be today,” said Little. “My coaches instilled in me hard work and discipline while my mom and my coaches were on me about my grades.”

As for adding balance to his current life, Little credits his teammates, especially roommates Brennen Van Hoecke, Cael Keck and Carter McCallister.

“The team helps me with that and being able to talk to my roommates,” Little said. “I have a lot of academic challenges now as I’m graduating this semester. Whenever I can play some type of game with my friends, it really helps me and takes my mind off it a little bit.”

In addition to his victories, Little has provided a leadership role for the Trojans.

“Steve doesn’t quit,” Erisman said. “He fights for the team. There have been many times with him that if he wins this match that is really hard, we win the dual.”

“I would not say that I am very vocal, but people can see the way that I work and see me in the (wrestling) room constantly,” Little said. “I like to think it’s helped their mindsets.”

Of course, both Little and Erisman also realize what becoming a national champion might mean for the Little Rock program and himself.

“You always want to keep the end in mind, but we coach these guys to think about right now and the hundred steps it takes to reach our goals, " Erisman said. “We keep the end in sight, but we are taking it one step at a time and doing what it takes every day. That’s how we help them.”

“I can’t believe that I’ve been in college that long and I turn 22 this month,” Little said. “I’m getting ready for life.”

But as of today, his future is now, when it comes to wrestling and his mustache.

Watch Little Rock home duals this season live on Flowrestling.