 On April 29, 2012 Hartman was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in a ceremony in Commack, N.Y.

Hartman was born in Detroit, Michigan, and is Jewish.As a youth, he played in the 1980 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Detroit.He began his career in 1983–84 playing for the North York Rangers in the OJHL, then in 1984–85 and 1985–86 for the Belleville Bulls in the OHL and also in 1985–86 for the North Bay Centennials of the OHL.