He also had immense courage. He lost a testicle after a dangerous challenge while playing for Tranmere and in 1926 suffered a fractured skull in a motorcycle accident.
According to his biographer John Keith, the latter episode enhanced the player's fame.
"If you invented the story people would dismiss it. He had this life-threatening motorcycle accident but within months he was heading the ball again. He had the metal plate from the operation taken out of his head but there was the myth that it never was removed and every hero needs a myth."
Dean, whose statue stands outside Goodison Park, scored 377 goals in 431 games for Everton and 18 in 16 England appearances and according to Keith was "a superstar before the word was invented".
His star quality once drew baseball great Babe Ruth to a game, where the American was astounded to hear how little Dean earned - eight pounds a week.
AUTOGRAPH SLIPS
After retiring from football, Dean became a publican and later worked for soccer pools company Littlewoods. Even then he would fill his pockets with autographed slips of paper in preparation for requests on outings to his local pub.
Former England captain Gary Lineker, scorer of 40 goals in all competitions for Everton in the 1985/86 season, says Dean's record will never fall.
"Football used to be really open in those days, everyone used to attack, and there were scores of 8-3 and 6-5," he said. "It's a different game now."
Dean's arrival at Everton coincided with a change to the offside law whereby only two, rather than three, opponents had to be between the attacker and the goal.
Dean, who had a leg amputated in 1976, died at Goodison after suffering a heart attack during a Merseyside derby on March 1, 1980.
Hours earlier, former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly had delivered a tribute to Dean at a lunch attended by Keith, who recalled: "Shankly stood up and delivered a eulogy that became his obituary. A tear came down Dixie's cheek. You couldn't script that - he died on his only visit to the derby match as a spectator."
"(Former team mate) Joe Mercer, his great friend, said: 'That's Dixie, he stage-managed that'."
Dean always had a sense of timing. Former Everton striker Bob Latchford recalled bumping into the Goodison hero after scoring his 30th league goal of the 1977/78 season.
"Dixie said, 'Well done, son. You did terrific today, I am really pleased for you'. Coming from Dixie I was on cloud nine. Then he added, 'Remember one thing, though - you're only half as good as I was!'."
($1=.5030 Pound)
