The Patriot (wrestler)
| The Patriot | |
|---|---|
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| Birth name | Del Wilkes |
| Born |
December 21, 1961 Columbia, South Carolina, United States |
| Spouse(s) | Cathy Wilkes (Present) |
| Website | Official website |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Del Wilkes The Patriot The Trooper. |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Billed weight | 275 lb (125 kg) |
| Billed from | Washington, D.C. (WCW) Columbia, South Carolina (WWF) |
| Trained by |
Verne Gagne The Fabulous Moolah |
| Debut | 1988 |
| Retired | 2000 Due to Torn Triceps |
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| No. 62 | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Offensive Guard |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Columbia (SC) |
| College: | South Carolina |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Del Wilkes (born December 21, 1961) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring names, The Trooper and The Patriot. Over the course of his nine-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.One of only four consensus All-American football players in program history, 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 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 restaurant. Del 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. Bob Hope, the iconic late comedian annually introduced college All-Americans during holiday television specials. Del Wilkes is one of only four Gamecock consensus All-Americans. The only others are George Rogers (1980), Melvin Ingram (2011) and Jadeveon Clowney (2012).
Del Wilkes, who from 1980–84 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. 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.
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