The man known by generations of Twin Cities children as the host of the "Lunch With Casey" TV show died Monday in Brainerd.

Roger Awsumb was 74.

Awsumb called himself "your old buddy, Casey Jones," on the show in which he adorned the dress of a railroad engineer complete with the pin-striped hat, cap and overalls along with a red handkerchief around his neck.

His show debuted on Channel 11 in the Twin Cities -- then known as WTCN-TV -- in the summer of 1954. It debuted later than previously planned, put off by live coverage of the McCarthy hearings in Washington.

Awsumb was 26 years old when the show debuted, and began in broadcasting six years earlier while working at Macalester College's WBOM-TV, KDLM-TV in Detroit Lakes, WCCO-TV and WMIN-TV prior to taking on the Casey Jones role.

Among his most famous skits was his original daily, non-traditional birthday song along with a skit in which he wore a red woolen union suit and sang "Valkin' In My Vinter Underwear" to the "Winter Wonderland" tune.

The show included cartoons, lunch delivered from a Twin Cities restaurant, and guests -- from musical entertainment to an animal handler from the St. Paul Como Park Zoo.

The show was canceled in 1972 amid a WTCN-TV ownership change when the new station owner -- Multimedia -- got out of the children's show business, ending Casey Jones' career and similar shows at other Multimedia stations.

A dozen years after the show was canceled, Awsumb began working at a Breezy Point radio station, and had cut back his workload in recent years although he continued to report every Tuesday to tape commercial work.

He was also named Outstanding Broadcast Personality by the Minnesota Broadcasters Association in 1995.

Awsumb was elected to Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2001.