Cover Story
The enthusiastic shout of “Sideline!” is one that so many of us equate with WBRC-TV’s Sheldon Haygood, co-anchor and sideline reporter of the longstanding and ever popular “Sideline” Friday night high school football show. Behind all that enthusiasm, Haygood struggled with major health issues that attempted to sideline his 30 plus sports and news career at WBRC. As a prostate cancer survivor and someone who lives with Crohn’s Disease, Haygood proudly shares how his faith has given him strength and wants others to know God can and will help you through difficult days. “During it all, I knew that God would take care of me,” he said.
A Beloved Birmingham Fixture. Haygood has been with WBRC since 1994. He began as a sports reporter and later transitioned into his role of sports weekend anchor at the station. In 2019, he moved to the news side of things appearing on the “Good Day Alabama” show, serving as anchor for WBRC 6 “News at Noon,” and working as co-host of Friday night’s “Sideline.” His early interest in sports came in Texas, where he played high school football and then majored in journalism at Southwest Texas State University. He first tried radio, but soon interned at a television station in San Antonio, landed a sports reporter position in Midland and became sports director at a station in Lubbock. His move to Alabama first took him to WHOA (now WNCF-TV) in Montgomery, and then to Birmingham, where he’s been ever since. Growing up in a military family that moved often, Haygood said that the stability of working in the same marketplace for many years has been especially important to him. “It’s quite rare that you find someone who’s worked in the same market for as many years as I have,” he said. “I consider myself very lucky in that situation.” He and his wife, Shelby, have raised all their children in the Birmingham area and love calling it home.
Health Battles & Triumphs. Haygood’s life and career shifted gears in 2019, when two medical diagnoses drastically changed things. “Right before Covid, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and had also recently been diagnosed with Crohn’s,” he recalls. “I lost 50 pounds in two weeks, and it took me about six to nine months to get that weight back. Today, my cancer is gone, and Crohn’s continues to be difficult.” His Crohn’s diagnosis came first, when he first felt that something was wrong the day before Thanksgiving. “I was supposed to travel out of town but needed to rest. I didn’t have an appetite that night and then had an ulcer in my mouth. I couldn’t get anything to eat down,” Haygood said. “Eventually they got me in to see a gastroenterologist and he immediately told me, ‘You’re going into the hospital right now.’” His health struggles with Crohn’s (a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects all parts of the gastrointestinal tract and causes inflammation, ulcers, and other symptoms and complications) resulted in changes at the station, where he began moving from the sports side to the news side of work.
Haygood’s prostate cancer diagnosis came after he went for his yearly exam; the doctors told him that his numbers were elevated, and they sent him to a specialist who screened him but found nothing positive. “They told me to come back in six months, which I wasn’t too excited about, so I avoided it and skipped it for a year,” he said. “I didn’t want to deal with that.” He was convicted to go back for a checkup after an experience interviewing Hatton Smith, the CEO Emeritus of Birmingham’s Royal Cup Coffee and a prostate cancer survivor. “As I was making the transition to news and doing longer stories for our website, I worked on a project for Cancer Awareness Month,” he said. “I was writing a story on Hatton, and he literally got in my face and said, ‘You need to do this.’ So, I went back and my numbers were elevated even more. They took samples and told me I had prostate cancer.” His experience has led Haygood to promote prostate cancer screening. “I want people to know that they need to get screened,” he said. Haygood looked to his faith throughout both journeys–and said that he went straight to God when he heard the cancer news. “I gave the cancer to God, and I knew he would take care of it,” he said. He continues to struggle with the issues caused by Crohn’s, and said it’s “harder to handle than the cancer.” According to Haygood, there are good days and bad days. He said that one of the greatest blessings throughout his health struggles was the way WBRC supported him. He was out of work for two different six-week periods, but the company was extremely understanding. His bosses even found a way to change his work schedule to make it more conducive to his lifestyle. “When I came back, I stopped doing sports. [Covid shutdowns also affected sports coverage.] They found a new place for me,” he said. “I would never have thought that a TV station would be like this, but everyone from the general manager to colleagues were spectacular. They put me in this position, and it’s been fantastic.” The work change was an unexpected blessing, as Haygood also considered his age and future. “If I’d been in my 30s, I would have found it harder. But in my 50s, this lets me sustain my career. And at my age, I have more maturity in covering news,” he said, adding “the Sideline show allows me to stay in sports some of the time.” He also has the added advantage of spending more time with his family. “For the main part of my career, I worked every weekend in sports,” he said. “Now I’m off on Saturdays and Sundays, and my wife is stuck with me,” he chuckles.
Importance of Church & Community. Haygood and his family are active members of Hope Community Church (formerly Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church) in Gardendale; Shelby has taught kindergarten at the church’s school for decades, and all of their children were baptized and grew up in the church. According to Haygood, though, he finally fully understood his church’s compassion and the importance of a faith community when it showed up for him during his health battles. “God showed up so many times, but especially through our church family,” he said. “When I wasn’t working, our church family rallied behind us both financially and biblically. I knew before that I really ‘liked’ the church and enjoyed everyone there, but I learned to really love our church during this time.” The family’s faith evolved from Shelby’s insistence that they find a church home after they married in 1993. She’d grown up in church and had a relationship with the Lord, but Sheldon didn’t attend church regularly when they met. “She said to me, ‘If you’re going to have a relationship with me, you’re going to have a relationship with God.’ She took me to church and her family loved on me,” he recalled. They started looking for a church as soon as they moved to the Fultondale/Gardendale area and were struck by the friendliness of the members at Mt. Vernon. Shelby ended up teaching kindergarten at the church’s school, and he said that her influence has been immeasurable–both to their own children, and to the hundreds she’s taught over the years. “Everywhere we go, it’s ‘Miss Shelby this, and Miss Shelby that.’ In Gardendale, I’m her husband and she’s the star,” Haygood said. “To see how people react to her, and to know that now she’s teaching the kids of students she had years ago. She’s had a wonderful impact on so many people.”
She and Sheldon are parents of six children of their own–four biological adult children (Hannah, Harper, Harrison, and Hayes) and two sons adopted through the foster system (Austin and Steven, who are in 10th and 8th grade). Looking back, Haygood credits his wife for her conviction that foster parenting was something they should do. “We wanted to help and foster so many children, and when we found out that the system was thinking of separating Austin and Steven, it made us stop and take steps to adopt them,” Haygood said. “Shelby believed so deeply in fostering, and we believed that it’s what the Word asked us to do.”
What’s Next. Haygood said that he plans on staying at his job “as long as they want me,” but he also looks forward to the day when he can spend more time with his wife. “I really want to devote my time to her. She’s been through everything with me, and she’s been my strength in so many ways,” he said. In the meantime, he plans on continuing to encourage others who are going through hard times. “Being on TV isn’t what makes you special. I’m just a guy who’s gone through things and happens to work on TV,” Haygood said. “What makes you special is how you persevere, and I’m inspired by all the people who persevere every day.”
-Cheryl Wray
Watch the video below to hear more from Sheldon about his faith, passion for fostering children, and all things Sideline!
