ODDS HARDLY EVEN\These athletes truly overcame.

Byline: Sam Donnellon Philadelphia Daily News 

Angels pitcher Jim Abbott pitches with the same hand he fields with. He is a one-armed major league baseball player and a good one. No one, not even Scrooge himself, could overlook the tremendous odds he has overcome to reach this level.

Outfielder Jim Eisenreich was out of baseball for 2-1/2 seasons, chased from the major leagues until he was diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome, a neurological disorder. Recently re-signed with the Phillies, Eisenreich, 36, takes medication daily to control his disease. Last year, he batted above .300 for the third straight season.

They are just two of the more publicized athletes who have overcome great odds. Atlanta Hawks guard Anthony "Spud" Webb, all 5-7 of him, is playing in his 11th NBA season. Tennis star Monica Seles recovered from a knifing and is playing again. Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Joe Phillips survived a savage mugging in San Diego that nearly left him blind and has returned to the NFL.

Mario Lemieux, of the Pittsburgh Penguins, overcame Hodgkin's disease and is back terrorizing NHL goalies. Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan's leg was injured in an attack a month-and-a-half before winning a silver medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics.

These are among the most famous on a list compiled to perhaps inspire you in any struggles you might face in 1996. They are mentioned only briefly because so much attention has already been given their comebacks, and because space is precious.

We've chosen to tell the stories below. There are undoubtedly more than these, and some might be even more poignant. But it is our New Year's wish that, like any good collection, there is something in it for everyone:

Travis West: Seven years ago, Travis West, then 21 and a senior at Portland State University, felt what seemed to be a bad cold coming on. Boarding a bus to take him to a class, the world-ranked Greco-Roman wrestler felt his head aching "like somebody was hitting it with a sledgehammer" and his hands going ice cold "as if they had been soaking in an ice bucket. But I felt hot."

West took the bus back to his room and went to bed. That was at noon.

By 6 p.m., he was headed to a hospital.

Versie West, his mother, took no chances. She already had lost one son, Lorenzo, also a wrestler, when the van carrying the University of Oregon wrestling team toppled over a 185-foot embankment four years earlier. She wasn't going to lose Travis, too.

Travis had been in the hospital before, diagnosed incorrectly the previous year with hepatitis. This time, though, there was no chance of hepatitis. As doctors at Portland's Emmanuel Hospital struggled to find what ailed West, his body began to shut down, organ by organ, until he lapsed into a coma.

He spent four days in a coma, rescued only by what doctors later described as a complex procedure that bypassed West's failing kidneys. Ravaged by autoimmune hemolytic anemia, West came dangerously close to brain damage and death. According to one attending physician, West's rare blood disorder had a mortality rate of 75 percent at the time.

West needed two years and some heavy-duty medical attention to return to full health. West made the 1992 Olympic team as a 163-pound Greco-Roman wrestler and holds one of the United States' best chances at a medal in Greco-Roman wrestling for the '96 Games in Atlanta.

That he made the 1992 Olympic team is a miracle rivaled only by the fact he is alive. But don't try to tell him about rare blood disorders or complex procedures.

"It was God," he said. "None of the things they predicted happened, because it wasn't something for them to understand."

Mary Ellen Clark:What platform diver Mary Ellen Clark hopes is the final chapter of her struggle with vertigo might be as bizarre as the affliction itself. After eight months of search - and seizure - the 1992 Olympic bronze medalist from Newtown Square, Pa. found her cure through the Upledger Institute in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., earlier this year.

John Upledger, the founder, calls his treatment craniosacral therapy, described by Clark and others as a cross between chiropractic and massage. Upledger says it has been used to help ballet dancers, to fight hyperactivity, and even to soothe cancer patients.

He said he found tightness on the right side of the base of Clark's skull and in the upper vertebrae of her neck, which created a crimping in an artery and resulted in a loss of blood and oxygen to the brain. He also found a problem with movement in the temporal bones of her skull.

Upledger's best guess as to how this happened? Head trauma, caused when the head hits the water at speeds of up to 30 mph, as often is the case in platform diving. Clark fought through shorter bouts of vertigo in 1988 and 1990.

"Maybe after all those years of diving, my body just needed a rest," she said earlier this month. "Type A personality that I am, I'd never have given in unless I had to."

She was running out of cures, though. She tried nose-and-ear specialists, cut out alcohol and caffeine, popped vitamins and minerals, even went a spell with acupuncture in her ears and back.

"I didn't like that at all," she said.

Clark began treatments with Upledger in late September and within a month, was practicing her dives without incident. She finished first in her coming-out earlier this month, an event in her training home of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

She turned 33 on Christmas. She will begin national and international competition in January, just in time for the 1996 Olympics. She says this is not all her doing.

"There was this guy drying my car at the carwash," Clark said. "And he asked how my diving was going. Turns out he's a minister, too. . . . He told me, 'I'll be praying for you.' So many people have said that, it's been amazing. And I've just got to feel like some of those prayers are being answered now."

Curtis Martin:Curtis Martin's life took a right turn two years ago while he crouched behind a car, ducking bullets at a Pittsburgh nightclub.

"I thought," the New England Patriots' surprise running back said, "that there must be more to life than this."

There was. Martin turned to God, abandoning the nightlife and the partying that had dominated his life since he first faked his way into bars at 15. A running back at Pitt, Martin's faith was immediately tested when he sprained an ankle early into his senior year.

He had attracted the pros' attention by gaining 1,075 yards as a junior. By the time last April's draft came around, though, Martin was stigmatized as a soft back unable to play in pain.

He missed 10 of his last 22 games at Pitt because of injury. After gaining 251 yards against Texas in Pitt's 1994 opener, he sprained an ankle in the second game and did not get healthy until only four games remained in the season.

Even then, Pitt kept him out of games. One day before practice, his locker was cleaned out. The message was clear: He was not wanted. Nevertheless, he said nothing, pieced together enough to practice with and went out onto the field.

He slipped from a potential top-10 pick to the 74th pick overall - the Eagles' spot in the draft. The Patriots were awarded the Eagles' third-round pick as compensation for losing restricted free-agent fullback Kevin Turner. Needing a running back, New England took a chance on the 5-11, 203-pound Martin.

Martin, 22, rushed for 1,487 yards in the Patriots' otherwise disappointing season. New England coach Bill Parcells, who practically breaks into a rash when forced to compliment a rookie, gushed throughout the season about Martin's durability and work ethic.

"I'm glad we have him," Parcells said.

And Martin? He was the Patriots' most beloved player, swamped with fan letters, including one that forced him to break his own rule about avoiding parties. Martin was invited to the birthday party of a 9-year-old boy. He went.

"Had a great time, too," he said.

As for exacting revenge for his treatment at Pitt? Forget it, he said.

"I don't like to badmouth anyone," he said. "That's not God's way."

Gheorghe Muresan:Wilt Chamberlain once said, "No one roots for Goliath." They do, though, when Goliath overcomes tumors, poverty, doubts and constant medical supervision to carve a place in the NBA.

Washington Bullets fans are enamored of center Gheorghe Muresan - their slow-footed, big-hearted 7-7 Romanian giant who, despite his gargantuan size and weight (303 pounds), was a what-the-heck second-round draft choice, the 30th pick in the 1993 draft.

Part of that was Muresan's level of skill and athletic talent - or lack of it. The native of the Transylvania region of Romania was 14 and 6-9 before he first bounced a basketball. One of six children, his clothes were always too short, his toes always poking out of shoes. His country, ruled by a dictatorship and poorer than ever, rationed food - half a loaf of bread a day, a kilogram of meat per week - and Muresan had long outgrown such rations.

Once drafted, he underwent surgery to remove a tumor from his pituitary gland. The operation could have left him blind. The medication he took afterward left him tired for months. Because of its size and placement, a piece of the tumor had to remain. Although not officially afflicted with Marfan's syndrome, a potentially fatal disease, Muresan does have the same thyroid condition that led to the death of pro wrestler Andre "The Giant" Roussimoff in January 1993 at age 46.

Muresan must inject himself with medication twice a day to prevent the possibility of growth by the remaining tumor. That's just part of his daily routine, which includes weight training, English lessons, and practice, practice, practice.

"He works as hard as anyone I've ever seen," Bullets coach Jim Lynam said. Still inconsistent and often plagued by early fouls, Muresan scored 31 points against Charlotte in a game this season and dominated Miami center Alonzo Mourning in an early meeting. They're rooting for more in the Beltway. This Goliath has a lot of friends.

Sabir Muhammad:Most achieved this list by overcoming injury or illness. The mountain this Muhammad climbed had to do with opportunity, or the lack of it. And if he continues to swim as he has, Sabir Muhammad will become the first swimmer of African-American descent to make the U.S. Olympic swimming team.

"Every day, we see negative portrayals of African-American youth," he said. "Our children need more people to look up to, in all walks. I know I did."

By his own admission, Muhammad lacked the commitment to become an elite swimmer until he met Chris Silva, a UCLA swimmer and the first African American to compete internationally. Silva coached and corresponded with Muhammad, who grew up in Atlanta competing in inner-city pools. When Silva died in an automobile accident in August 1990, Muhammad's commitment took firm hold.

Muhammad went to Stanford, where he was looked after and eventually housed by Silva's mother, Desi.

"Chris has a lot to do with me wanting to achieve big goals," Muhammad said.

The biggest, of course, is a gold medal in this summer's Olympics in his hometown. Muhammad's forte is the 100-meter butterfly, his 6-8, 200-pound frame an impressive sight slashing through the water. Last August, he finished second at the U.S. nationals, and he is among the favorites for the U.S. Olympic Trials this March.

Not in his favor, though, is the timing of the Trials. As a devout Muslim, Muhammad is required to fast during the month of Ramadan, which next year extends from mid-January to mid-February. The Trials are in early March.

"Hakeem Olajuwon does it," he said.

Ah, but Olajuwon doesn't swim. And his crunch time comes in May.

Oleg Tverdovsky:When he was 15, Oleg Tverdovsky left his dirt-poor family in Ukraine, traveled hundreds of miles to Moscow, found himself an apartment with dirty running water and no heat, and tried to find himself a job.

That makes him a lot like a million other 15-year-olds in the vast area once called the Soviet Union.

"You see the pictures in national news, but until you meet someone in that predicament, it doesn't sink in," said Dave McNab, the player personnel director for the Mighty Ducks, who drafted Tverdovsky second overall in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. "To think he got past all that and made it here is pretty impressive."

Tverdovsky, a defenseman whose speed conjures comparisons to Bobby Orr, turned pro at 15, and was drafted by the Ducks when only 18. Now 19, he is in his second season and showing much of the prowess his European play promised.

But it wasn't like that a year ago.

Tverdovsky incurred repetitive nagging injuries in his rookie season, missing time with several injuries. One week, he was suffering from a groin pull; the next week, his ankle was swollen; the next week, it was his wrist. Soon there were murmurs the Ducks had another soft Russian on their hands.

Tverdovsky had "Reiter's syndrome," a blood disorder that manifests itself throughout the body much like arthritis. Left untreated, Reiters can attack organs such as kidneys and even lead to death.

Even now, Tverdovsky must take a careful balance of medication. But it's working. He has six goals and 12 assists in 36 games, and his mobility and rushes with the puck are again producing comparisons to NHL legends.

Tom Dolan:Having exercise-induced asthma makes it hard enough for Tom Dolan to swim competitively. Compounding his condition are allergies, a congenitally narrow windpipe and the restrictions in the medicines he can take because of international athletics rules.

He has more good excuses than Ray Rhodes has Super Bowl rings, and perhaps more worries, too. But the 6-6 Dolan never uses those excuses, and his anxiety has been eased by a battery of medical tests that have cleared him to compete.

Dolan holds the world record in the 400-meter individual medley and has the potential to make the Olympics in five events. That makes him potentially the most versatile male swimmer in history, as long as his asthma doesn't hinder him.

"I don't think there's ever going to be a time where I'm going to have everything go right," the 19-year-old said.

"That's fine. Life kind of deals blows to you. You deal with it and go on."

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Photo SELES