Delbert Alexander "Del" Wilkes, Jr.[3] (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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

[6] 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.

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

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.

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

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

Three weeks later, on December 8, Stars and Stripes lost the titles to Harlem Heat (the match aired on the January 14, 1995 edition of WCW Saturday Night).

On August 30, 1995, Wilkes and Ace challenged The Holy Demon Army for the World Tag Team Championship but lost.

He wore a mask with American stars and stripes and carried the U.S. flag (using a patriotic entry theme that would casually be used for the wrestler Kurt Angle a few years later).

Wilkes then went into addiction recovery and resided in Columbia, South Carolina where he worked at Dick Smith Nissan as a car salesman.

[27] In a July 25, 2007, interview with WACH reporter Justin Kier, Wilkes discussed his career, steroid use, the Chris Benoit tragedy,[28] and various other topics.