Sports Medicine

The athlete shimmies onto the doctor's examining table and gingerly tries to extend his bare leg. The doctor already knows there's been damage to the knee and begins to discuss the possible approaches. Surgery, physical therapy, rest, recuperation - none sounds particularly appealing to the young athlete. In pain and disappointment, the athlete reaches out for his mom's hand, struggling to hold back tears. More and more, sports medicine professionals are describing this scene.

Pat Croce says there's a good reason why callers to his sports medicine radio show have to tell him they feel "great" before they can ask questions. Croce, identified in the show's intro as "physical conditioning coach and physical therapist for the Philadelphia Flyers, 76ers, members of the Phillies and you," said yesterday that frame of mind is an important element in conditioning and in treating injuries. "If they believe they'll get better, they'll get better," Croce said.

THE EAGLES sketched out a scenario Monday that might allow center Jason Kelce to play again this season, but it is a real longshot, two orthopedic surgeons told the Daily News. Head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder said Kelce suffered a partial anterior cruciate ligament tear and a total tear of the medial collateral ligament, when Baltimore safety Ed Reed's helmet hit Kelce's right knee in the third quarter of the Eagles' victory Sunday. Burkholder said Dr. Peter DeLuca, the team's orthopedic surgeon, will examine Kelce's knee with an arthroscope Tuesday.

Dr. James Q. Atkinson, 86, a second-generation physician who started his Burlington County practice in the depths of the Depression and didn't retire until 1986, died Wednesday at Memorial Hospital of Burlington County in Mount Holly. His practice was legendary and old-fashioned. Office hours extended round the clock and included house calls to many a rural home in the Pine Barrens. Dr. Atkinson, a Vincentown resident, practiced family medicine. His wife of 60 years, Lucy Van Syckle Atkinson, worked alongside him as a nurse throughout his career.

Tina Nicholson is at ease now. The 5-foot, 2-inch senior point guard at Downingtown High School, inundated with phone calls and mail from college coaches across the country, has given a verbal commitment to attend Penn State University on a full basketball scholarship for fall 1992. Chosen as The Inquirer's Female Player of the Year last season, Nicholson led the Whippets to the PIAA Class AAAA state title, averaging 21.3 points, 10.6 assists and 6.5 steals per game in becoming the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,915 points.

Jay Jones might be the most unlikely member of the Pennsylvania team that will face Maryland at 7 p.m. today in HersheyPark Stadium in the 36th annual Big 33 Football Classic. The graduate of William Tennent High certainly had an unspectacular high school football career. "I was real surprised when I was called," he said. "We have guys on the team who were all-state and all-American honorable mention. " Jones spent three varsity seasons shuffling between wide receiver, where his 100-meter time of 10.6 seconds was devastating, and quarterback, where he filled in every time a Tennent quarterback was injured.

Abington football star Russ Durham gave a not too subtle hint about his immediate future when he arrived at yesterday's news conference wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with BC in maroon and gold. Durham, a 6-foot-3, 202-pound senior who was a first-team defensive end on The Inquirer's all-Southeastern Pennsylvania team, then announced that he had made an oral commitment to Boston College, where he expects to redshirt as a freshman. "If I can get up to 220 pounds, I think I can play on any level," said Durham, who also visited West Virginia and Virginia Tech.

The Health Network of Chester County Hospital in West Chester has promoted Richard Donze to corporate vice president for medical affairs. Because many services have moved beyond the acute-care institution's campus, the hospital formed the network about two years ago, according to spokeswoman Colleen Leyden. Its subsidiaries include the Occupational Health Center, Neighborhood Health Agencies, the Center for Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine, and the Center for Health and Fitness.

William J. Oliver, 43, president of the South Jersey Chiropractic Society and former dean of continuing education at the Pennsylvania College of Chiropractic Medicine, died Tuesday at Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center in Camden from lymphoma. A Riverton resident, Mr. Oliver founded Apple Chiropractic Center in Riverton in 1976. He was named president of the South Jersey Chiropractic Society in September 1992. Mr. Oliver was a significant force in promoting chiropractic medicine in the South Jersey area, said Dan Fuzer, a friend and an executive board member of the society.

Bobby DelVecchio may not be trying his luck riding bulls anymore. In fact, the 55-year-old hasn't ridden one since the early 1990s. But his fingerprints will still be all over the place this weekend when the Philadelphia Invitational is held at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday and Saturday nights, even if he is not likely to be there. Vital in creating the Professional Bull Riders organization, DelVecchio helped shape the sport of bull riding to what it is today. It's a sport that he says has become much harder, more dangerous, and more physical than he ever could have imagined when he first hopped on a bull four decades ago. "The risk factor is triple what it was before PBR," DelVecchio said over the phone from his home in Texas.