My grandparents hated GA Tech, which as a kid who grew up in the 80s, I always thought was a strange team for Alabama fans to hate. Other than them playing a few times in the early 80s, I saw no connection. It wasn't until I was a little older that I understood why, with Coach Bryant having to wear a helmet on the sideline as Coke bottle rained down on him. Not sure if that event was related to the Furman Bisher article in The Saturday Evening Post accusing Bryant of fixing a game.
The GA Tech situation grew out of the 1961 game In Birmingham. Alabama LB Darwin Holt landed an elbow to Ga Tech player’s jaw, breaking it. This led to a war of words and accusations between Bryant and Tech Coach Bobby Dodd. Bryant defended Holt, saying Ga Tech players had been throwing elbows all game long (Bryant later showed game film of Ga Tech players doing such). The “bottle throwing”‘ happened on Alabama’s return visit in 1962.
Furman Bisher (Atlanta writer) had written article in 1962 for The Saturday Evening Post basically claiming Bryant was a “dirty coach that taught and rewarded dirty tactics”. (Bisher was sued for libel by Bryant. Bisher claimed he “reviewed” the article but didn’t write it).
In 1964, the Saturday Evening Post again ran with a story, based on a overheard phone conversation by an insurance salesman (a week before the UGA -Bama game) claiming UGA Coach Wally Butts and Bryant had conspired to fix the game. The Saturday Evening Post was sued (again for the second time as Bryant’s libel case was still going on). That case went all the way to the Supreme Court before a verdict in favor of Bryant and Butts.
In 1964 Ga Tech left the SEC to go independent. Many years later in the early 1970’s it was rumored Tech had petitioned to rejoin the SEC only to that petitioned “blocked” by one dissenting member -and many believed it was Bryant and Alabama that blocked them.
Your grandparents and many other Alabamians had a bunch of reasons to hate Ga Tech.