I bet Prof Lilly (who definitely had a fairly recent shared ancestor with Gene Wilder) did the same thing in your 120 person class with no assigned seating or name tags as he did in mine: about a month in first semester first year, he called on some guy by name. No big deal, profs knew some students. A few minutes later he called on a woman by name. Again, nothing unusual. Then there was a case involving some sort of maritime aspect. He looked at a student and said something like 'Mr Smith, I believe you did some sailing. What can you tell us about this?' And at that moment, no exaggeration, almost everyone in the class let out an audible 'ohhhhh' as we simultaneously realized he must've read our law school applications and memorized details like Mr Smith's former job on a boat, but also faces from our application photos. Prof Lilly looked up and said 'Yes, there's no more anonymity in this class.' Of course, he may've only memorized those three, but still . . .
postscript: Before our next class, John Boatwright (sadly RIP) and I went to the then-only grocery store in Barracks road (A&P I think?) and obtained enough paper grocery bags for everyone. Prof Lilly usually walked in a couple minutes late, and when he did, all 120 of us had grocery bags over our heads with hastily drawn faces and eye cutouts. Stupid? You bet. But he did smile.