The Patriot

Delbert Alexander "Del" Wilkes, Jr. (December 21, 1961 – June 30, 2021) was an American professional wrestler and college football player, better known by his ring names, The Trooper and The Patriot.

Over the course of his ten-year career, Wilkes wrestled for the American Wrestling Association, the Global Wrestling Federation, All Japan Pro Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Federation.

Wilkes was heavily recruited as an offensive lineman at Columbia's Irmo High School and played for the South Carolina Gamecocks.

He was one of only four Gamecock consensus All-Americans, the others being George Rogers (1980), Melvin Ingram (2011), and Jadeveon Clowney (2012).

Del Wilkes, who from 1980 to 1984 played College Football at South Carolina, started out in the American Wrestling Association in 1988 under his real name for a year, before wrestling under the ring name "The Trooper."

He wrote his opponents tickets after beating them as part of his police gimmick and would also hand out plastic police badges to the fans as he came to and from the ring.

He knew the Gamecocks would do something special when he met first-year head coach Joe Morrison before the 1983 season.

Wilkes had quit the team before Morrison was hired but agreed to meet the new coach and former NFL running back at a Columbia, South Carolina restaurant.

Wilkes added 50 pounds of bulk to his six-foot-three, 225-pound frame to bolster an offensive line that in 1984 helped set school records for touchdowns (49), points (371) and total offense (5,095 yards).

Wilkes was selected as an All-American starter in 1984 by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), the Associated Press (AP), and the Walter Camp Football Foundation (WC).

Despite a stellar collegiate campaign, Wilkes failed to make the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1985 and the Atlanta Falcons in 1986.

When football was over for Wilkes, he turned to a pro wrestling career that he found physically grueling but financially rewarding.

The Trooper won the AWA World Tag Team Championship with D.J. Peterson on August 11, 1990, at the final AWA television taping.

Peterson and Trooper would turn out to be the last AWA World Tag Team Champions.

In January 1991, Pro Wrestling Illustrated and its sister publications withdrew recognition of the AWA's World Championship status but continued to recognise Trooper and Peterson as incumbent "AWA Tag Team Champions" until the promotion finally closed later that year.

Alongside Paul Diamond, Wilkes also headlined the AWA's near-annual supercard/former PPV, Superclash 4.

In a cage match, they were victorious over the Destruction Crew, Wayne Bloom, and Mike Enos.

Wilkes then went on to the Global Wrestling Federation as a fan favorite and became "The Patriot", where he was crowned the first GWF Television Champion in a tournament in 1991.

Soon afterwards, the Patriot feuded with Al Perez over the GWF North American Heavyweight Championship, which he won initially on August 10, but the victory was disputed.

He won the title again in a rematch against Perez two weeks later.

In September 1991, a man calling himself the Dark Patriot appeared in the GWF.

For several months, he taunted the Patriot and claimed that he was the Patriot's dark side.

Wrestling as The Trooper, Wilkes received a tryout match at a WWF Superstars taping in Rockford, Illinois on May 6, 1991, when he defeated WT Jones.

The following day in Green Bay, Wisconsin at a Wrestling Challenge taping Wilkes defeated Tom Stone.

He returned on November 12, 1991, in a dark match at a Wrestling Challenge taping in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Wrestling this time as The Patriot, Wilkes defeated Brooklyn Brawler.

On January 31, 1992, the Dark Patriot faced the Patriot in a title match.

The Patriot lost the title and left the GWF.

He would then appear in five matches in March 1992, wrestling as either Del Wilkes or The Patriot and facing Rick Martel, Kato (Paul Diamond), and Repo Man.

In 1992, during his stint in the GWF, Wilkes went to wrestle in All Japan Pro Wrestling.

He had success with Jackie Fulton who wrestled as "The Eagle" to match Wilkes' Patriot gimmick.

On June 2, 1993, The Patriot and the Eagle defeated Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship.

The Patriot would hold onto the titles for three months, eventually losing them on September 9, 1993, to Doug Furnas and Dan Kroffat.

In late 1993, The Patriot and The Eagle entered the 1993 World's Strongest Tag Determination League where they finished in 7th place with 4 Points.

In 1994, Wilkes signed with World Championship Wrestling to form a team with Marcus Alexander Bagwell called Stars and Stripes.

They feuded with Pretty Wonderful (Paul Orndorff and Paul Roma) over the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

The two teams battled for the titles and exchanged victories in non-title matches for several months.

One week after losing the titles at Fall Brawl 1994, Stars and Stripes defeated Pretty Wonderful on September 24, 1994, on WCW Saturday Night.

Stars and Stripes held the titles for a month but lost them back to Pretty Wonderful at Halloween Havoc 1994.

On November 16, 1994, at Clash of the Champions XXIX, Stars and Stripes regained the titles in a match where Patriot's mask was on the line.