Patterson had grown up in Iowa and worked for John Deere in Waterloo, Iowa when he broke into professional wrestling in the Kansas City area. Promoter Gus Karras put Patterson in matches against Don Soto in 1964. In 1965, Patterson moved to Texas and worked with promoter Dory Funk Sr.. The following year, he traveled to California, where he held the WWA Tag Team Championship with Alberto Torres. He also continued to work in Texas, where he worked as a villainous character in Dallas until he was turned on by his partner Boris Malenko, Fritz Von Erich had a Russian chain match with Malenko for Patterson's contract which Malenko owned. In 1969, he worked for Big Time Wrestling in Michigan and Ohio. In 1970, he feuded with Jose Lothario and held the Florida version of the NWA Brass Knuckles Championship. Patterson agreed to work for an outlaw promotion run by Ann Gunkel, the widow of his old friend and Georgia promoter Ray Gunkel, in the 1970s. He also spoke out against poor working conditions for wrestlers and sued for racial discrimination, and as a result, he was blacklisted from wrestling. He had been complaining about racism from promoters for many years and wanted to start a wrestlers' union, a dream he shared with Jim Wilson a former NFL player and wrestler, himself blacklisted. It would be years, with Patterson working at the Los Angeles Times in the interim, before he would get another shot, when Dusty Rhodes took ill in Florida. In 1976, he won the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship from Bruiser Brody. In 1977 he scored a surprise pinfall win over The Sheik in Toronto for the U.S. title but lost three weeks later. Patterson joined Ole Anderson as a tag team partner in the early 1980s and they briefly held the NWA National Tag Team Championship. Ole's kayfabe nephew, a young Arn Anderson, came to the sport, and Ole, saying he was "tired of carrying guys like Patterson and Dusty Rhodes" broke up with Patterson, and joined Arn in what would be the foundation for the Four Horsemen which would include NWA Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair and Tully Blanchard. Patterson retired from the ring in 1993. He would also mentor Ice Train, until retiring completely in 1994. On July 27, 2019, Patterson was inducted the 2019 Class of the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in his hometown of Waterloo. Patterson is regularly mentioned by commentators Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino on the Ring of Honor wrestling promotion's Ring of Honor Wrestling syndicated television show. They often refer to Caprice Coleman as his favorite wrestler.
Personal life
In 1988, he was a labor organizer for Service Employees International Union in Atlanta. After retiring from professional wrestling, he began running a Christian camp for children. Patterson is also an ordained minister.
