May 31, 1944 — June 28, 2025
Long Beach is in mourning after the passing of city legend Richard Wayne “Rick” Bryson. Bryson passed away a few weeks ago in Long Beach at the age of 81 after a battle with cancer.
The Long Beach native was well-known around the city in both business and in sports. He was the founder and president of Bryson Financial, one of the most successful financial groups in the region. Bryson was also a dual sport athlete during his time at Long Beach Poly and Long Beach State. He played baseball for three seasons at the Beach and football for two.
He was a key part of the 1964 baseball team, who won the school’s first conference championship, batting .350 and leading the team in stolen bases on the year. On the football field, he was a defensive back and punt returner on the 1964 team that won nine of 10 games that year. At Poly, every pass he caught his senior year as a tight end was for a touchdown–17 for 17. That earned him an induction into the Long Beach Poly Football Hall of Fame–he is also in the Long Beach State Hall of Fame after his All-American two-sport career.
The Long Beach State ties didn’t stop there. Bryson continued to support LBSU for years after his time at the school. He was named a Distinguished Alumni of Cal State Long Beach in 2012.
As the president and CEO of Price, Raffell and Brown, Bryson donated more than $50,000 to the 49er Foundation. He also helped raise over $200,000 and served as the chairman of the 49ers’ annual fund drive for athletics as well as the 49er Athletic Club President, according to Long Beach State. In 2022, a Bryson Financial sign was put above the scoreboard at Blair Field when Rick and other donors contributed to the improvements of the stadium.
Bryson’s Long Beach roots spread to every inch of the city, as well. He served as fraternity president for Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He is also the past president of the Boys & Girls Club of Long Beach, Pacific Hospital Foundation and Virginia Country Club, along with sitting on the board of directors for the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center Foundation as well as being a member of several other nonprofit boards.
Rick and his son Trent Bryson, the current CEO of Bryson Financial, were granted the City National Bank Entrepreneur of the Year award by the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber honored Rick through a July 2 Instagram post.
“Rick’s leadership in business, his long-standing commitment to the community, and his legacy as a standout athlete at Long Beach State left a lasting mark on our city,” the post reads. “He built a company that has helped countless businesses and families, and he remained deeply involved in supporting Long Beach throughout his life…His impact on our business community will not be forgotten.”
Trent said that despite his father’s stature, he never felt like he grew up in a shadow.
“There was never anything like a shadow or a stressful situation, it was more like this is what you’re born into and this is what we’re going to do,” he said. “There were high expectations.”
On the sports side, his legacy has continued as well–grandchildren TJ and Alexa both competed for the Long Beach Poly track and cross country teams and signed Division 1 scholarships out of high school.
“It was something when he was on our podcast he talked about,” said Trent Bryson. “I’ll put our family against anybody. He has a grandson pitching at Corpus Christi, and he loved watching him pitch this year, it was one of his favorite things to do. Three of his kids played D1 college sports, and the first three grandkids who went to college are all D1 so far. He started that expectation of, ‘This is what we’re about.’”
Rick is survived by his wife of nearly 30 years, Brenda Bryson; his children Todd Bryson (Kristin) and their children Jackson, Colter, and Bridger; Trent Bryson and his children Travis Jared, and Alexa; DeAnne Shea (Ryan) and their children Bryson, Parker, and Kingsley; and Taylor Richley (Spencer) and their daughters Margot and Scout.Services will be held at Virginia Country Club on August 10. In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation to the Rick and Bree Bryson Scholarship Fund with the Boys & Girls Club. Donations can be made here: https://form-renderer-app.donorperfect.io/give/bgclb/bryson.
