Władysław's older brother Edward (b. 1948) was an aspiring pole vaulter (later switched to decathlon) at the local club, Bałtyk Gdynia, and one day in 1966 encouraged his then 13-year-old brother to also give athletics a try. He showed his brother how to pole vault and Władysław's talent was soon noticed by Walenty Wejman who became his first coach. In 1972 Władysław Kozakiewicz broke Polish junior records both indoors and out, also breaking the 5 metres barrier for the first time. A year later, after changing the coach to Ryszard Tomaszewski, he broke the Polish senior record with 5.35 metres and made his major international debut taking silver at the 1974 European Championships in Rome. In 1975 at the European Indoor Championships in Katowice, he won a bronze medal and later in the season at the Janusz Kusociński Memorial he jumped 5.60 metres setting a new European record.