How getting cut from basketball helped Summit's Jarvis Little win 3 straight TSSAA wrestling titles

Nashville Tennessean

FRANKLIN — Jarvis Little always saw himself as a basketball player growing up.

But height didn’t run in his family and fate had other ideas. When he was cut from the sixth-grade basketball team, Summit wrestling coach Pete Miller put his arm around his shoulder.

“Why don’t you come and wrestle?” Miller said. “We’ve got a size for you.”

The rest has become school history.

Little captured his third consecutive TSSAA wrestling state championship by pinning Brentwood’s Andrew Donelson in the Class AA 132-pound championship on Saturday at Williamson County Ag Expo Center, capping a career in which he's become Summit's most decorated wrestler.

Little was the program’s first state champion two years ago. The Appalachian State signee finished his senior season 55-5 and has gone 156-11 since the beginning of his sophomore year.

“We’ll tell stories about him forever here,” Miller said. “To start wrestling in sixth grade and have the success he’s had so fast is phenomenal. It just speaks to his work ethic. He’s one of the hardest-working wrestlers I’ve been around in my whole life. I can’t wait to see what he does at the next level.”

Little was obsessed with wrestling from the start. He didn’t play a big role immediately, but he became a conference champion in seventh and eighth grade. He didn’t place at the state tournament as a freshman but used that as motivation.

“I didn’t have that wrestler (at Summit) in front of me who had set the bar,” Little said. “That’s what drove me to get to where I am today. I wanted to be the first guy. I wanted to be someone this program can remember forever. Now, I get to be a role model for the little kids coming into the program.”

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One of those kids was his younger brother, Zachery, who finished as state runner-up at 157 pounds. There were two other champions for Summit with Landon Desselle winning at 144, his second straight title, and Brayden Leach capturing his first title by winning at 150.

Five Spartans reached the finals and seven won medals. Summit (161 points) finished second as a team behind Cleveland (221.5) in the Class AA championship with 161 points.

Little’s dad, Jarvis Sr., still thanks Miller, who is the son of legendary Cleveland wrestling coach Al Miller, for inviting his son into the program and putting him on a path to win.

It kickstarted an entirely new lifestyle for him.

“(Little) might not be on the mat every day, but he’s working out on something every day,” Jarvis Sr. said. “He’s figured out what his routine is. It’s not a stretch to say he hasn’t taken many days off since sixth grade.”

Little likes it way. He nursed a cut under his left eye while awaiting another championship medal.

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Those are small prices to pay on what's become a rewarding journey.

“That’s wrestling. You’re going to get a lot of dings, a lot of cuts. Each one represents a hard match I’ve had,” Little said. “I like to keep them as a reminder of all the hard work I’ve put in.”

Reach sports writer Tyler Palmateer at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @tpalmateer83.