Born to Stu and Helen Hart, Dean Hart began wrestling in his father's Stampede Wrestling promotion along with younger brothers Bret and Owen Hart during the 1970s. Dean was widely regarded as the most handsome of the Stu Hart's sons. He also helped out behind the scenes for Stampede later on but remained mostly preoccupied with other endeavours during the 80s. Hart worked together with his brothers Bret and Bruce in Dory Funk's Amarillo wrestling promotion in Texas during the very early 70s. They were invited to travel to Amarillo due to the fact that they and Funk had become very good friends. The three of them traveled there alone and Bruce Hart described the journey as something akin to "Stand By Me" as they ran into several misadventures along the way, including getting chased by people who mistook them for hippies due to their long hair.