Biography of a Queen
On November the 25th, 1923, a legend was born; one of 13 children brought into the world by Peter and Sarah Kmezich, hard working Yugoslavian immigrants.
Young Ann grew up on rural 23rd Avenue in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Playing ball in the afternoons with the Fernly boys and hard instruction from Longfellow Elementary coach Les Loyd were the grass roots to a foundation forged in hard work, bearing reward beyond the small Iowa town.
Four no-hitters in one week for the young right-handed hurler were commonplace for the likes of a youthful Katelman Foundry softball team. Life was not as easy as the game she came to love, as World War II broke out shortly after Ann graduated high school. Young people were solicited to do what they could in aiding the war effort. Kmezich went to work running a metal lathe, assembling parts for B-29 bomber planes at the Glen L. Martin Bomber Plant in Fort Crook, Nebraska. We know it today as Offutt Air Force Base. A true "Rosie the Riveter", Ann likely assembled parts that were incorporated into the bomber that would bring the war to an abrupt end - the Enola Gay.
While working at the bomber plant, Ann gathered a group of young women and formed the Bomberettes, a powerful softball team in the metro area. The play exhibited by Kmezich caught the eye of Des Moines amateur league softball moguls. The Des Moines-based Walker-Shay Realty softball team would flourish for two seasons with Kmezich at the helm, as evidenced by their appearance in the National Championships.
This was just the beginning for the Iowa farm girl. In 1949, Ann signed with the Chicago Queens of the National Girls Baseball League. She was named Rookie of the Year for outstanding pitching and lumbered 17 home runs including the longest ever hit out of Parichy Stadium. Kmezich's play in the N.G.B.L. was decorated with World Champion titles for the Queens from 1950-1952, and after being traded to the Bloomer Girls in 1953, the slugging pitcher led her final team to a title.
Ann would retire from the game, work in the savings and loan business around the greater Chicago area, and marry her sweetheart, Tom Fatovich. The couple moved to Council Bluffs in 1983. Ann would give back to the neighborhood of her youth, running "Ann's Sweets and Treats", a candy shop located on 23rd Avenue. Described as the women's version of Bob Feller and Joe Dimaggio, Ann Kmezich Fatovich is the epitome of local legend that embodies every graceful brush of American sacrifice and pride.
