Before Steven Hunte was a soldier, he was a wrestler.

He grew up in his father’s Mepham wrestling room, then wrestled at crosstown rival JFK High School.

Steve won 3 Nassau County Championships and 2 NY State Championships (1972 and 1973). He had a high school record of 101 wins, 61 by pins, 4 losses, and 1 tie, winning 17 wrestling championships, 6 Outstanding Wrestler Awards, and the Nassau County Outstanding Wrestler Award in 1873.

He won 2 NY State (USWF) freestyle championships, and took second place in the Junior National USWF Freestyle Tournaments in 1972 and 1973.

Wrestling at the University of Iowa, on 4 Big Ten, 4 Midland, and 3 NCAA Championship teams, Steve won 100 matches for the University of Iowa. He won 2 Big Ten Wrestling Championships (1977 and 1978), was nationally ranked #1 his junior and senior years and victorious in the coveted 1977 East vs. West All Star Dual Meet. In his senior year, he was awarded the Nile Kinnick Scholarship Award as the #1 athletic department academic performer of all intercollegiate sports.

Graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1978, Steve completed his Army Airborne Training and was commissioned as an Army officer in 1979 before completing his Physical Therapy degree at the University of Iowa in 1980.

As the Assistant Wrestling Coach at the U.S. Military Academy, the Army team has a record of 86 wins, 21 losses, and 2 ties. Wrestling on the All Army Wrestling Team, Steve won the 1983 Senior National SAMBO Wrestling Championship.