Robin and David Sheets pause for a photo at their home in Piney Creek.

Sheets shares recovery story

In 1994, Alleghany resident David Sheets said he felt like he had it all, with a loving family and profitable businesses, not to mention several Toughman championships under his belt.

Starting at the age of 28, with the support of his first wife and children Adam and Angela "Angie," he delved into a world of karate matches, ultimately competing and making his mark in the world of Toughman competitions.

"I fought Joe Frazier boxing and Muai Thai skills shows. I loved it," remembers Sheets. "I had 90-some fights, I KOed (knocked out) or TKOed (technically knocked out) 49 men. The first show I fought in I took second, being out cold twice for three or four seconds in the first round.

After participating in shows for a short time, the son of Clifford and Margie Sheets took time out to help first wife Brenda care for their new daughter, build a house and start a logging business.

Of his Piney Creek home, he said, "I built this house, had a new daughter born Dec. 29, and started a logging business all in the same month. My hands were full. I had to give up fighting and I hadn't really started fighting then.

After eight years, I missed it; I craved it."

Sheets admits he loves his late mother, who died in 1989 and left him $25,000 in life insurance, which he said allowed him to follow the shows with his family.

"My features are like my mother's," Sheets commented. "My coordination, my talent; my mother had a lot of common sense. There was nothing in the world that my mother couldn't do whether it was wiring, mechanic…There was nothing in the world that she could not do or wouldn't try."

While his mother Margie lie in a hospital bed in the final stages of stomach cancer, Sheets took part in a kickboxing match that he dedicated to his mother. With a big smile, Sheets stated, "I knocked the guy out in the first round and took the trophy to mother's hospital room."

He continued, "When she died, I started going to Badmen contests. I had the money to go. I'd take my family, my wife and two children. I could afford to go to Myrtle Beach, S.C. I could afford to go anywhere I wanted to go and take my family. Win or lose, I had the money to get a hotel room and feed them. I was lucky I had the finances to go and fight in every show I could fight in. I didn't fight for the money, I fought because I liked the sport of fighting.

Sheets explained during a match at Myrtle Beach, the boxing commission would not allow him to kick during the match.