Rick Bryson, a Long Beach sports and financial legend who has been fighting cancer for more than 50 years, has died. He was 81.

Bryson died at his home in Long Beach on Saturday surrounded by family members.

“He was a fighter until the end,” his son Trent Bryson said. “He won the race.”

A celebration of life for his father will take place later this month at the Blair Field, home of the Long Beach State baseball team, the Dirtbags, where the elder Bryson starred, the younger Bryson said.

“(Cal State Long Beach) lost such a great friend and supporter,” CSULB President Jane Conoley said. “I really appreciated all the support he gave us over the years.”

Bryson was president and founder of the Bryson Financial Group, one of the largest insurance brokerage firms in the United States. Largely funding the marquee, the company’s name sits above the scoreboard at Blair Field. Bryson was inducted into Long Beach State’s Athletic Hall of Fame in baseball and football. His athletic performance at CSULB led him to All-American recognition in football.

Bryson was also active in community affairs, serving as past president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Long Beach and the Pacific Hospital Foundation, board member of the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center Foundation and a member of other nonprofit boards.

Bryson was born in Long Beach on May 31, 1944, to parents who had moved from Lincoln, Nebraska, to work at Douglas Aircraft during World War II. He started working as a young boy, helping his mother stuff copies of the Press-Telegram for delivery. He attended Poly High School, where he starred in football and baseball and was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“Rick was just an amazing guy,” said John Morris, general manager of the Boathouse on the Bay restaurant, and a friend of Bryson’s. “He gave so much in the community, especially to inner-city kids. And he never bragged about what he did. He just did it.”

While Bryson was building his financial business and supporting those in need in the community, he was also struggling with cancer in his personal life for more than 50 years.

In a letter he wrote to a friend in 2022, Bryson said he was 28, in 1973, when he was told he had Stage 2 melanoma cancer.

“What was a melanoma, I asked?” Bryson wrote.

He then wrote about the 10th bout with cancer that he was facing.

“Tomorrow, I find out if the lymph nodes that were excised from my head along with my tenth melanoma are free from advanced cancer cells,” he wrote. “Regardless of the outcome, I have and will be a cancer survivor until I no longer survive.”

Bryson needed surgery for that cancer.

“With over 10 melanoma surgeries, as well as prostate and bladder cancer, I have calculated that I have spent over 1,200 days in battle with the disease — seeing doctors at various hospitals all over the country to countless PET scans, MRIs, biopsies and X-rays,” Bryson wrote. “That is almost four years out of 50 I have been fighting cancer directly to move on with my life, four years of being incapacitated for most of that time.”

Cancer has struck the Bryson family deeply. His father, brother and a sister all have died from cancer.

But despite all that, Bryson always remained optimistic.

During his last attack — his eleventh — he was interviewed by his son on a podcast, “Grit Rising.”

“Cancer was like a journey,” the elder Bryson told his son. “I played the game and I won.”

Despite his struggles with cancer, Bryson said, he was able to achieve many positive things in helping people and himself.

“I want my legacy to be that I won,” he said. “I’ve had lots of ups and downs in my life but I have won so much in my 81 years.

“More people have called me to tell me what I did for them,” he said.

Bryson also talked about his philosophy on life. “Make every moment a great moment,” he said. “Treat people with respect. Be persistent and patient. Whatever it is, just keep trying.”

People should get over the fear of failure, he also said.

“If you’re in sports, like soccer, you should take more shots, not less,” Bryson said. “In business, take that shot, ask for people’s business.”

Bryson also said his family — his wife, children and grandchildren — has made his life better.

“I wouldn’t change my life for anything,” he said in the podcast. “I won the race. I don’t need to run it anymore.”

Bryson is survived by his wife, Bree; his children, Trent Bryson, Todd Bryson, De Anne Shea and Taylor Richley; and 10 grandchildren.