you want something like:
$conn=odbc_connect("yourodbcsource","","");
$qry = "select firstname,lastname from staff where staffid = 3";
$rs = odbc_exec($conn,$qry);
while (odbc_fetch_row($rs))
{
$firstname = odbc_result($rs,"firstName");
$lastname = odbc_result($rs,"lastName");
printf("%s %s\n",$firstname,$lastname);
}